Americans spent a record $5.29 billion this Thanksgiving, up 2.9% over last year, according to data released by Adobe Analytics this morning.
Big discounts on toys and electronics enticed shoppers, according to Adobe Analytics. Mobile shopping – purchases made through smartphones – accounted for 55% of online sales, an all-time record for Thanksgiving Day since 2012.
These numbers come the same day as Salesforce reported that online sales on Thanksgiving grew globally by 1% over last year to $31 billion, with U.S. online sales up 9% to $7.5 billion. Salesforce added that average order value on Thanksgiving was $105 globally and $120 in the U.S.
Active apparel and footwear sales were up 17% on Thanksgiving, while electronics and accessories were up 26% over the same day last year, said Salesforce. Toys and learning were up 10% over last year.
According to Salesforce, early shoppers flocked to mobile yesterday. Online sales in the U.S. spiked between 6:00 pm EST and 10:00 pm EST as people finished up their holiday meals with 78% of online traffic being through mobile phone, up from 74% the day before.
“Shoppers went from indulging in holiday meals with family to holiday deals, turning to their phones after dinner to score big, fueling digital spend and mobile traffic growth,” Rob Garf, VP and GM of retail at Salesforce, said in a statement.
“After lackluster deals earlier in the season, retailers have now stepped up their discount game to pre-pandemic levels,” Garf added. “Consumers responded by browsing and buying online this Thanksgiving, with buy now pay later options winning over many consumers on the fence, even on lower-priced goods as the pressure of inflation persists.”
Despite increased inflation, strong sales and aggressive discounts on Thanksgiving are setting Black Friday up to break online sales records.
Last week, the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics released a joint survey which showed an estimated 166.3 million Americans are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year. This figure is almost 8 million more people than last year and is the highest estimate since NRF began tracking this data in 2017.
According to the survey, more than two-thirds (69%) of holiday shoppers plan to shop during Thanksgiving weekend this year. The top reasons consumers plan to shop are because the deals are too good to pass up (59%), because of tradition (27%) or because it is something to do (22%) over the holiday.
Black Friday continues to be the most popular day to shop, with 69% (114.9 million) planning to shop then, followed by 38% (63.9 million) on Cyber Monday. Among the 114.9 million Black Friday shoppers, 67% say they expect to head to stores, up from 64% in 2021.
NRF forecast earlier this month that holiday sales during November and December will grow between 6% and 8% over 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. Last year’s holiday sales grew 13.5% over 2020 and totaled $889.3 billion, shattering previous records. Holiday retail sales have averaged an increase of 4.9% over the past 10 years, with pandemic spending in recent years accounting for considerable gains.
