There’s plenty to be thankful for this year. But before you enjoy the Thanksgiving feast with family and friends (and break out the elastic waist pants) here are some additional reasons to be grateful to be an online marketer this year.
Let’s Talk Turkey
In 2016, online spending by U.S.shoppers climbed to above $1 billion by Thanksgiving evening, according to Adobe Digital Index, surging almost 14% from 2015. U.S. consumers spent $1.15 billion online between midnight and 5 p.m. ET on Thursday of 2016.
This year, the long weekend stretching from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday will be the online retailer’s’ busiest time of the holiday shopping season. Those five days are predicted to account for $1-in-every-$5.5 retailers earn, according to Adobe.
But Adobe predicts that while online sales will hit $107.4 billion in November and December – a 13.8% increase over that two-month stretch last year – shoppers will spend $19.7 billion over Thanksgiving weekend alone.
First Pumpkin Pie, Then Online Shopping
And data from BestBlackFridayDeals.com says that in 2016 60.28 percent of Americans said they would not be doing any shopping on Thanksgiving. The remaining 39.72 percent said they would shop on Thanksgiving, either online, in-store, or both.
For 2017, a majority 64.29 percent do not plan on doing any Thanksgiving shopping. The remaining 35.72 percent will shop on Thanksgiving in some manner. Of the 35.72 percent who will shop on Thanksgiving, 13% plan on doing online only shopping. Eleven percent will shop only in store, and 11% plan to do both, according to BestBlackFridayDeals.com.
Still Stuffed
For the past three years, the Saturday before Christmas has surpassed Black Friday as the busiest shopping day of the year. And in-store sales on Black Friday have been dropping, with sales slipping 1.6% in 2015 as compared to the year before, and 14.1% in 2014 from the previous year, according to analytics firm RetailNext.
However, Black Friday sales have been surging online, with a 16.4% spike, to $5 billion, expected this season, Adobe says.
Still, that’s no match for Cyber Monday. This year, Cyber Monday is expected to be the most lucrative online shopping day ever, with $6.6 billion in sales. That’s a 16.5% jump over 2016.
Regardless of which days end up breaking sales records, Q4 of 2017 looks to be a period that all online marketers and ecommerce companies will be thankful for.