States with stricter Thanksgiving coronavirus gathering curbs saw higher online retail sales: Adobe
States that had tighter restrictions on Thanksgiving Day gatherings saw higher online sales than those with more lax rules, according to the latest data from Adobe Inc.
ADBE,
“At a state level, online sales growth was 47% higher in
states where gatherings of people from outside immediate
households are prohibited compared to states with fewer COVID restrictions,”
the Adobe report said.
Thanksgiving Day sales totaled $5.1 billion, up 21.5% from last year and an all-time high. Nearly half of transactions (46.5%) were on mobile devices.
For Shopify Inc.
SHOP,
merchants, the amount of mobile shopping was even higher, with 71% of sales on mobile devices and 29% on desktops.
Watch: How to pick winners in the retail sector amid the pandemic
Adobe notes that the sales growth on Thanksgiving wasn’t as “aggressive” as some of the other numbers it has seen.
“Heavy discounts and aggressive promotions starting in early November succeeded at getting consumers to open their wallets earlier,” said Taylor Schreiner, director at Adobe Digital Insights.
“While COVID-19, the elections and uncertainty around stimulus packages impacted consumer shopping behaviors and made this an unprecedented year in ecommerce, many consumers are still holding off on remaining gift purchases until today and Cyber Monday in hopes of scoring the best deals. “
For Black Friday, Adobe expects sales to reach $10.3 billion, up 39.2% year-over-year, with appliances and TVs seeing the deepest discounts, reduced 20% or more and 19% respectively. More than half of consumers say the deals on Black Friday weekend are a little less special because discounts have been extended across a wider range of days.
With retailers coaxing consumers into getting their shopping done early with promotions beginning last month, one-fifth of shoppers expect to have their holiday shopping completed by Black Friday.
It’s a good thing too: Adobe expects shipping costs to increase by an average of 14.6% on Dec. 11. With store capacity limited and many shoppers still too anxious to go to stores, curbside pickup has been a popular option, with 116% growth this week.
“Retail’s focus on Black November seems to be paying off, but it remains to be seen if early sales will diminish retail’s performance over Black Friday weekend,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief retail industry adviser.
“While we are heading into retail’s big holiday weekend with some nice momentum, there are still several weeks ahead with many industries still looking to make up for the year’s losses. This may still prove to be a very challenging holiday season at retail, which means the focus could shift from sales volume to profit margin for those industries and retailers that are lagging.”
Read: Black Friday 2020 will be a smaller event as retailers spread promotions across the holiday season
So far, board games have been popular items, with five times the number of sales in October. The Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
show “The Queen’s Gambit” has driven a 300% sales increase of chessboards and chess-related items compared with the previous month.
For the months of November and December, Adobe is
forecasting $189.1 billion spent online, up about a third from 2019, with Black
Friday and Cyber Monday expected to become the two largest online sales days in
history.
The National Retail Federation announced its holiday forecast earlier this week, expecting as much as 5.2% growth this year, reaching between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion.
Target Corp.
TGT,
is already looking ahead to Cyber Week, with deals starting on Sunday for things like a Calphalon Air Fryer Toaster Oven
NWL,
and Apple Watches
AAPL,
Target is also introducing “flash sales” this year, promotions available for an abbreviated time.
“We know many people are doing more of their holiday shopping online this year, so our biggest Cyber Week yet includes more deals and more ways to save than ever before,” said Rick Gomez, Target’s chief marketing, digital and strategy officer, in a statement.
Don’t miss: Shopping for a new car on Black Friday? Beware of this clever car-dealership trick
Walmart Inc.
WMT,
has also announced its Cyber Monday plans, with deals on toys, kitchen items, electronics and more starting Monday at midnight ET.
“By holding events over multiple days, moving the most sought-after items to online only and creating a socially-distanced in-store experience, we were able to help protect the health and safety of our associates and customers while giving customers the opportunity to get the gifts they wanted at great Black Friday prices,” said Scott McCall, Walmart U.S.’s chief merchandising officer, in a Black Friday blog post.
Amazon.com Inc.’s
AMZN,
Prime Day marked the beginning of this year’s COVID-19-impacted holiday season, but Salesforce says digital sales for Thanksgiving and Cyber Week will still reach new levels.
“The digital momentum doesn’t show any signs of slowing down
with Salesforce projecting significant growth on Thanksgiving as consumers turn
to their mobile devices for inspiration and purchases from the comfort and
safety of the couch,” said Rob Garf, vice president of strategy and insights at
Salesforce.
“Consumers have been conditioned to wait for the biggest
holiday deals to drop over Cyber Week. Retailers didn’t disappoint with
creative promos and deals that are driving unprecedented digital sales.”
