Online Sales For Thanksgiving And Black Friday Reach $14 Billion

Adobe Digital Economy Index has shown consumers spent $14 billion online during Thanksgiving and Black Friday combined. The results are broken down with $8.9 billion of online sales occurring on Black Friday and $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day. This marks the first time where both days did not see an increase in online spending over last year, showing that consumers started to shift their spending to earlier in the season. In an interview with Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, he stated, “We are seeing that more purchasing was done earlier in the season as retailers put forth promotions as early as October prompting consumers to shop early.” Adobe anticipates an overall holiday increase to online sales of between 9-10% but the spikes in shopping will be leveled off this year as consumers spread out their purchasing from October through December.

Consumer top concerns for holiday spending

The ongoing supply chain issues have some consumers concerned about getting the gifts they want in the right skus and sizes. Out-of-stock messages have increased by 124% compared to just before the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020. The Adobe Index showed appliances, electronics, housekeeping supplies and home & garden having the highest out-of-stock levels. Schreiner said, “Retailers are doing a better job of directing online shoppers to products that are in stock and available, which has lessened the out-of-stock messages from the previous week by 8%.” 

The other top concern for consumers discussed by Schreiner is inflationary pricing which may impact holiday shopping especially in the apparel category where deals are not as strong as they are in electronics and toys. Schreiner said, “Supply chain challenges and overall inflation have put pressure on retailers to constrain discounts to maintain profit margins.” Discounts across all categories for Thanksgiving are down less this year than they were last year. According to the index, computer discounts are minus 15% as compared to last year at minus 28%.

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solutions like Sezzle, Afterpay, Plan It by American Express and PayPal’s Pay in 4 are growing in usage as consumers look for ways to manage their holiday budgets. BNPL revenue is up 422% in November and is over pre-pandemic levels (Nov 2019) for online purchases. 

Mobile device usage continues to grow

According to the index, smartphones have accounted for 44.4% of all online sales for Black Friday, which is up 10.6% year-over-year. As more and more consumers use mobile devices to shop and purchase products, these numbers are expected to increase. Curbside pickup is up 70% in November compared to pre-pandemic levels (Nov 2019), a trend that will continue well into the holiday season. For Thanksgiving and Black Friday, curbside accounted for 20%-21% of online ordering. Schreiner said, “As we get closer to the holiday, consumers will continue to use curbside pick-up and same-day delivery to ensure they have gifts in-hand and ready for recipients.” Consumers may opt to use these services as opposed to paying for expedited shipping once shipping cutoffs come into play.

The hot selling items

According to the Adobe Index, categories seeing the highest online spending this season so far, include: toys (up 954% over pre-holiday levels of September), books (up 671%), video games (up 648%), appliances (up 617%), and personal care products (up 553%).  Apparel’s boost of 376% is largely driven by cold weather items: outerwear (+720%), fleece (+1090%), and hoodies (+805%).  

Adobe is predicting that Cyber Monday will be the biggest online shopping day of 2021, with between $10.2B and $11.3B in online spending. Total online sales will hit $207 billion this holiday season which is a 10% increase over last year during the same period and a new record. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the analysis covers over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories.