Thanksgiving on track to record $ 6 billion in US online sales, says Adobe – Heaven32

While people prepare and eat their Thanksgiving meals, or simply “work” to relax during the day, some consumers are going online to take advantage of holiday shopping offers. Adobe, what is real-time online sales monitoring At 80 of America’s top 100 retailers, covering roughly 100 million SKUs, early figures indicate we’re on track to surpass $ 6 billion in online sales by Thanksgiving. . Overall, he believes consumers will spend $ 189.1 billion on online purchases this year.

To put that number in some context, the overall holiday sales season is a 33.1% increase from 2019. AND Adobe said shoppers spent $ 4.2 billion online last year at Thanksgiving: This year’s numbers are a 42.3% jump. And before today, every day of this week had sales of over $ 3 billion.

What’s going on? The numbers are a sign of hope that despite some of the economic downturns in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, retailers will at least be able to make up for some of their losses in the coming months, traditionally the biggest timeframe. on sale.

As we’ve been reporting for the past few months, overall 2020 has been a year of high watermark for e-commerce, with the biggest trend of increasing online browsing and shopping, which has been growing for years. , gaining remarkable momentum. of Covid. -19 pandemic.

The push for more social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus has led many people to stay away from crowded places like stores and forced us to stay at home, where we have turned to the internet to move forward things.

These trends are not just spending more on those who are already familiar with online shopping. It also introduces a new category of buyers on this platform. Adobe said that so far this week, 9% of all sales have been “generated by new net customers as traditional shoppers go online to transact in light of store closings and efforts. to prevent transmission of the virus through in-person contact. “

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has traditionally been marked as the start of holiday shopping, but the growth of e-commerce has made Thanksgiving more important, when physical stores are closed and many of us are walking around. in the house with maybe not much to do. This year he seems to be following this trend.

“Families have many traditions during the holidays. However, travel restrictions, stay-at-home orders, and the fear of spreading the virus prevent Americans from taking advantage of many of them. Online shopping is a holiday habit that can be maintained online and sales figures show that giveaways remain a beloved tradition this year, ”Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement.

(That’s not to say Black Friday won’t be big – Adobe predicts it will break $ 10.3 billion in online sales this year.)

Some delve into what is sold:

Adobe said board games and other “family-oriented” categories are seeing a big increase, with sales five times higher than last year.

Likewise, based on how much we buy groceries online now, last week’s grocery sales were up 596% from October as people stocked up for the long weekend. (either seemingly, whether or not), whether spent with the family).

Other flagship items include Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Just Dance 2021, as well as vTech toys and Rainbow High Dolls.

Amazon’s announcement this week that it will offer more delivery options this season shows how e-commerce is growing beyond simple door-to-door delivery, and how this has become a key part of how retailers differentiate their businesses. each. Curbside pickup is up 116% from a year ago this week, and expedited shipping is up 49%.

Smartphones are also going to be strong again. Adobe said $ 25.5 billion was spent via smartphones in November to date (up 48% from 2019), accounting for 38.6% of all e-commerce sales.