Israelis spend NIS 750 million ($216 million) on Black Friday shopping

Consumers in Israel dish out 20% more than in last year’s buying frenzy, snapping up discounted clothes, toys, electronics

Illustrative: Travelers walk by a duty free shop at Ben-Gurion International Airport, March 4, 2016. (Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90)
Illustrative: Travelers walk by a duty free shop at Ben-Gurion International Airport, March 4, 2016. (Noam Revkin Fenton/FLASH90)

Israelis spent over NIS 750 million ($216 million) on Black Friday purchases, marking a 20 percent increase in spending over last year’s shopping frenzy, Channel 12 news reported.

Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday Israeli consumers carried out some three million credit card transactions.

At the height of the shopping spree buyers in Israel made around 12,500 transactions per minute, Channel 12 said.

The data came from the Automated Bank Services company, which processes international payments for Israeli credit cards.

At Ben-Gurion International Airport Israelis were lined up with empty suitcases waiting to buy discounted products at airport duty free shops and abroad.

Some consumers interviewed by Channel 13 at the airport’s duty free shops were waiting in line for up to 50 minutes.

Shoppers said they were looking for deals on clothes, toys, perfumes, Apple AirPods and iPhones.

Black Friday, a traditional post-Thanksgiving sales event started in the United States, is a recent import to Israel.

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