Thanksgiving Day online sales, discounts jump

Online spending on Thanksgiving Day jumped 5.5% compared to a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, a reflection of holiday shoppers who are buying more of their gifts online and responding to discounts.

E-commerce sales totaled $5.6 billion on the holiday. That’s nearly twice as much as the $2.87 billion that consumers spent on Thanksgiving in 2017, according to the company’s analysis.

For Black Friday, online spending is expected to climb even higher and bring in an expected $9.6 billion, up 5.7% year over year.

Still, it’s too soon to say if the pop will be enough to propel a strong season overall.

Holiday shoppers are expected to spend 3% to 4% more year over year in November and December, according to the National Retail Federation’s forecast. That would be a significant slowing from the holiday sales growth seen during the pandemic and a return to more typical growth levels prior to the Covid crisis.

Adobe’s data covers more than one trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, 100 million unique items and 18 total product categories. It does not cover in-store purchases, where the majority of U.S. holiday purchases still take place. Last year, about 70% of total holiday sales took place in physical retail locations, according to the NRF.

As retailers face slowing sales, companies have dangled sharp promotions in October and in recent weeks issued cautious outlooks for the holiday quarter. And to motivate shoppers, retailers like Target, Macy’s and Best Buy are pulling out all the stops, from Disney- or toy-themed experiences to limited-time discounts on hot consumer electronics.

So far, shoppers have seen big discounts in major gifting categories. On Thanksgiving Day, toys were…