Thanksgiving Day online sales are at a record $ 5.1 billion, Adobe says

Some shopkeepers may avoid shops in the meantime Coronovirus epidemic, But they are still putting many items in the virtual shopping cart.

Thanksgiving Day expenses increased nearly 22% year-over-year to $ 5.1 billion, a new record, according to Adobe Analytics data. In 2019, online sales on Thanksgiving Day were $ 4.2 billion. The company analyzes traffic on retail sales websites and deals with 80 of the top 100 online retailers.

According to Adobe, almost half of purchases were made on smartphones.

Retailers that offer curbside pickup had a 31% higher conversion rate of traffic to their sites – how popular it is for people to buy online and retrieve purchases without stepping into stores.

Strong online shopping data reflect a trend that many retailers and industry watchers expected: more consumers are avoiding malls and buying gifts from their sofas during the epidemic.

Like every aspect of 2020, the global health crisis has shaken holiday shopping. Retailers close, including Walmart and Target Sale in mid October To coincide with Amazon Prime Day. They have extended one-day sales events, giving shoppers less of a reason to participate in this Black Friday.

One of the country’s top retail trade groups called global health crisis Enthusiasm for shopping will not decrease. The National Retail Federation estimates that holiday sales will grow between 3.6% and 5.2% year-on-year, between $ 755.3 billion and $ 766.7 billion. Last year, they rose 4% to $ 729.1 billion, the NRF said. Over the past five years, on average, holiday sales have grown 3.5%.

However, the trade group said that it expects more of those dollars to be spent online, rather than in stores. This led to a 20% to 30% jump in online and other non-store sales compared to the previous year.

Adobe said that it is projected to be the two biggest online sales days in history on Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday. It expects Black Friday sales to be between $ 8.9 billion to $ 10.6 billion and online sales will increase to $ 189 billion for the full holiday season.

Follow CNBC’s update on Black Friday here.