Thanksgiving Online Spending Tops $1 Billion

According to research from Adobe, every day in November Americans have spent more than $1 billion online. Thanksgiving extended that record

The software company tracks daily e-commerce sales:

Based on Adobe Analytics data, we’ve seen $1.52 billion in online spend as of 5:00 p.m. ET, 16.8% growth YoY. The average order value (AOV) is slightly higher for this year’s Thanksgiving Day at $132, up 3.2% YoY. $30.39 billion has been spent online between 11/1 and 11/22, reflecting 17.9% YoY growth

The rotation away from the desktop which was for years the sole tool for online shopping is nearly complete:

Consumers are buying more on their smartphones. A record 46.0% of all traffic to retail sites are coming from smartphones (up 15.2% YoY) as of Thanksgiving afternoon. The share of traffic from desktop (44.0%, down 11.0%) and tablet (10%, down 5.7%) have both decreased YoY. Specific to revenue, smartphones grew their share as a revenue driver for retailers with a 30.3% share (22.1% YoY), with desktop (57.2%, down 7.3%) and tablet (12.5%, down 7.0% YoY) decreasing in share.

Most experts believe that shoppers take their smartphone with them into physical stores, look at merchandise, and then compare prices for the same or similar holiday gifts online to save money. The practice, knows as “showrooming” has become a troubling trend for brick and mortar retailers who find their locations full of people who will probably not buy from them. It is another cause of store sales which have plunged for most retailers as Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has taken their business.

Ironically, some consumers are likely to use showrooming to buy computers. Adobe reports:

We’re seeing an average savings of 11.2% for computers, 15.1% for televisions and 11.4% for toys. The sharpest discounts are expected to occur on Black Friday, with televisions (24%), tablets (24%), jewelry (12%) and appliances (18%) showing the largest price decreases. Today, shoppers can expect to find the best deals on computers (16%), sporting goods (11 percent), apparel (15%) and video games/consoles (10%). On Cyber Monday discounts will be highest for toys at 19%.

All in all, the data shows another set of reasons traditional retail is dying.