• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 24, 2023

Adobe and Salesforce released data Friday morning that suggests mobile shopping will become a key contributor to ecommerce growth and online traffic during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Numbers from Adobe show mobile shopping peaked on the night of Thanksgiving Day as consumers took advantage of resting hours after a full day of activities with family and friends.

Some 59% of online sales came through mobile devices, an all-time high for the day. It represents an increase of 14% year-over-year (YoY) to $3.3 billion in spend according to Adobe Analysts data, which analyzed more than one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories.

“We thought mobile growth had plateaued after the pandemic, but people are traveling again,” said Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail, Salesforce. “This data shows that mobile has become the remote control for shopping. It has become the entry point for consumers to engage with the brand.”

In the U.S., many consumers traveled for Thanksgiving. They finished holiday meals with friends and family and then took out their mobile phones to search for deals, scrolling social or click on mobile ads or links in email.

Sinch, a cloud provider, estimates more than 1.3 billion emails were sent to shoppers on Thanksgiving night.

Salesforce data shopping index gathered from 1.5 billion shoppers in aggregate from 60 countries shows how traveling consumers during the holiday season will contribute much more to growth this holiday season.

With consumers on the go on Thanksgiving Day, Salesforce found that 79% of all online traffic globally and 82% in the U.S. came from mobile phones.

Consumers used mobile wallets to complete transactions on their phones, increasing use by 44% globally YoY with Apple Pay driving the growth at more than 47%.

Consumers searching and researching what to buy drove up online traffic by 4% globally YoY and 6% in the U.S. YoY.

Salesforce research shows consumers on average traverse nine touchpoints before making a purchase. Average Order Value hit $103 globally, up 2% YoY, and $119 in the U.S., up 1% YoY.

Heavy discounts enticed consumers to buy on Thanksgiving Day. Salesforce data shows online global sales reached $31.7 billion -- up 1% YoY -- while U.S. sales reached $7.5 billion, up 1% YoY.

“When we’re done with the holiday season, the industry will see a 15% CAGR since 2019,” Garf said. “If you annualize that with all the ups and downs of the pandemic, !5% is really strong. Any retail executive will be happy with 15% growth during the holiday season.”

And while Salesforce mostly analyzes online performance, more consumers are doing research online and then heading back into stores.

Salesforce estimates brands will see about $28 billion in incremental sales from brick-and-mortar consumer purchases.