• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, September 13, 2018

U.S. consumers are spending online. Numbers out from Adobe Digital Insights on Thursday estimate that consumers spent a record $2 billion online during Labor Day, fueling the fire to extend an increase in purchases through the end of the year.

Based on similar numbers, Bing released 2018 growth numbers, expecting consumers to spend 5.1% more this year -- up from 4.2% in 2017, excluding gasoline and automobiles.

While 18% of monthly searches across the Bing network are new queries, during the holidays, brand-specific searches occur more often on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Bing’s post, published late Tuesday, also pulls in data from a variety of sources to back the prediction that online 2018 holiday sales will increase. For instance, online sales are expected to grow 14% and in-store sales by 3.5% -- the highest percentage since 2011, according to Bing, citing Kiplinger June 2018 numbers.  

Bing also points to comScore data that estimates Microsoft’s search engine owns 35% of retail click share and reaches 72 million people searching for retail items and 52 million retail searches that are not carried out on Google.

Microsoft’s search engine also cites data from year-end 2017, showing a year-over-year increase in searches and a report by the National Retail Federation that suggests a 22% increase in an earlier start to the shopping season.

While Bing Network clicks peak during Cyber Week, NRF also reports that three out of four shoppers will continue to shop.

In another example, the average consumer will spend $1,226 during the 2018 holiday season, based on Deloitte 2017 stats that suggest the amount nearly doubles for household income of $100,000 or more.