• by Ray Schultz , November 26, 2021

Consumers spent $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving -- the low end of the range for online spend -- but still a notable boost over average daily levels, Adobe reports. Sales came in at a rate of $3.5M on average per minute during the day.

Moreover, shoppers are expected to spend between $8.8 billion and $9.6 billion this Black Friday. And Adobe maintains its prediction that online sales will hit a record $207 billion -- a 10% increase YoY, in the period from November 1 to December 31.

Salesforce offers a slightly different daily tally. 

Online sales in the U.S. totaled $6.9 billion spent on Thanksgiving Day -- a 1% increase over last year, Salesforce reports in a tally that differs from the one done by Adobe. And Salesforce projects flat growth for Black Friday, for a total of $12.9 billion.

Global online sales came in at $38.7 billion on Thursday, again up 1% YoY, Salesforce says. The projected Black Friday spend is $62.8 billion, also flat. 

“We are on track for record online sales during Cyber Week," says Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce. "That said, with people getting back into physical stores and making purchases earlier in the holiday season, demand is smoothing out beyond the typical peak shopping days.”

Meanwhile, Adobe reports that curbside pickup was used in 21% of all Thanksgiving online orders for retailers that offer the service. 

The top categories on Thanksgiving were toys (up 527% over September levels), video games (+327%) and jewelry, spurred by Charms (+300%) and Earrings (+207%). 

“Today, consumers will see deeper discounts and more items in stock as retailers release their best deals of the season,” says Taylor Schreiner, director, Adobe Digital Insights  

Schreiner adds: “Popular products including computers, apparel, appliances and sporting goods are already seeing strong discounts this morning, so today is an excellent day to dig in on your holiday shopping.” 

According to Adobe, shoppers can expect discounts in these areas: Toys (-22%), Apparel (-16), Computers (-15%), Appliances (-9%), Sporting goods (-9%), Overall Electronics (-12%) Furniture & Bedding (-4%) and Tools (-2%).

But Garf warns that consumers "may not be winning the game of discount chicken this year.  With product still stuck in ports and margins being squeezed, consumers looking for deep discounts are going to be disappointed. The average discount over the first few days of Cyber Week is down 8% compared to last year.”

Adobe's analysis covers over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories.

Salesforce analyzed global shopping data from more than 1 billion consumers on Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud, covering 24 of the top 30 U.S. online retailers.