Consumers collectively spent a record $6.1 billion online over Thanksgiving, an almost 9% increase from last year, according to Adobe Analytics.
Online spending on Thursday rose 8.8% year over year. It also outpaced last year’s spending of $5.6 billion on Thanksgiving. For its data, Adobe analyzed commerce transactions across 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, covering 18 product categories.
Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya attributed the record spending to “bigger-than-expected discounts” across the board, which “propelled impulse shopping in categories like electronics and apparel.”
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For example, toys saw discounts of 27.2% off the listed price, while electronics were discounted by 26.5%, according to the data. Discounts on apparel, appliances, sporting goods and furniture were 22.6%, 19.2%, 19.1% and 16.3%, respectively.
Adobe found that shoppers also heavily leaned on buy now, pay later services, which drove $430 million in online spending. That’s a jump of 10.3% year over year.
The primary reason consumers cite for using these services is that it frees up cash and allows them to purchase items they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. Given the popularity of these services, Adobe projected that they will drive $993 million in spending on Cyber Monday, up 5.6% year over year.
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Adobe’s latest data aligns with its earlier forecast that online spending would surge to $240.8 billion during the entire holiday shopping season, driven largely by a surge in discounts and the popularity of buy now pay later services.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), the largest retail trade group in the U.S., projected that holiday spending will increase this year to a new record as consumers lean on e-commerce.
E-commerce is being credited as the primary driver of the retail sales growth for the 2024 holiday season, according to the NRF.
