Holiday shopping continues to set new records with $6.1B spent online Thanksgiving

The consumer is back, and spending is reaching record levels this holiday season as buyers shrug off diminished buying power and stagnant incomes to open their wallets to the tune of $6.1B spent online on Thanksgiving Day.

According to the latest data compiled by Adobe Analytics, online spending was up 8.8% from last year, driven by deep discounts on toys, electronics, apparel, appliances, sporting goods, and furniture. In just the past week, discounts on toys accelerated by more than triple to 27.2% by November 28 and increased by 6x for electronics to 26.5%.

“Cyber Week is off to a strong start, where bigger-than-expected discounts on Thanksgiving propelled impulse shopping in categories like electronics and apparel,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “As people gathered with family and friends, many were hitting the buy button on their mobile devices, which hit an all-time high for the overall holiday season.”

For the 28 days since the beginning of the month, consumers shelled out $96.5B online, using their mobile devices for a majority of their purchases. Top sellers were stuffed animals and board games, Harry Potter-related toys (MAT), Tonie Auto Play Figurines, Fischer Price Little People (MAT), Minecraft toys (MAT), X Shot Insanity form dart toy. Popular video games included Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (NTDOY, NTDOF), Super Mario Odyssey (NTDOY, NTDOF), and EA football games like Madden 2025 and College Football (EA).

Looking at early trends for Black Friday, Adobe Analytics expects 71% to shop online, spending a record of $10.8B, up 10% from last year. Shoppers will find the best discounts on electronics (27% off listed prices), toys (-26%), apparel (-22%), and furniture (-17%). And while computers will be discounted by about 22% on Black Friday, the best deals can be found on Saturday with discounts reaching 23%. On Cyber Monday, discounts for electronics will reach 30%, and 23% for apparel. Consumers are expected to spend 6% more ($13.2B) on Cyber Monday than last year’s event.

Related Tickers: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT), Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), JAKKS Pacific (NASDAQ:JAKK), GameStop (NYSE:GME), Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF), Gap (NYSE:GAP), Victoria’s Secret (NYSE:VSCO), Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST), TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX), Foot Locker (NYSE:FL), Deckers Outdoor (NYSE:DECK), DICK’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS), Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI), Ulta (NASDAQ:ULTA), Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE), Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL), Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN), SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA:XRT), Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLY).