According to new figures published by Adobe Analytics on Friday, consumers spent a staggering $4.2 billion online on Thanksgiving, up 14.5% from last year and a new all-time record high.
This marks the first time that Thanksgiving shopping has surpassed $4 billion. In total, e-commerce behemoths saw a 244 percent boost in sales on Thanksgiving, while smaller retailers experienced a 61 percent jump.
Phones played a huge role in the spike in Turkey Day shopping: Overall, nearly half of the revenue — 44.9 percent — stemmed from people’s smartphones, a 24.4 increase over last year.
Black Friday sales are on track to hit $7.4 billion; as of 9 a.m. ET on Friday, shoppers already spent $600 million online, representing a 19.2 percent increase from last year.
The full holiday season — which is six days shorter than is typical, because Thanksgiving fell on the fourth Thursday in November, the last possible date it could be — is expected to bring in $143.7 billion in online spending. That’s a 14.1 percent increase compared to 2018.
MacDailyNews Take: Certainly good news for the U.S. economy and for sellers of coveted goods like Apple!
A sign of a happy culture…a happy people, for sure.
Thanksgiving always falls on the fourth Thursday….
Poppycock! Here is the truth……
Thanksgiving had been celebrated on the last Thursday of the month since the time of Abraham Lincoln. But, according to TIME, during 1939, the calendar had been unusual, as the month started on a Wednesday, so there were five Thursdays as opposed to four.
To restore some order, Roosevelt moved the national holiday to the second-to-last Thursday of the month (a change that many were unhappy with). Instead of focusing on the negative, Roosevelt attempted to justify his decision with a pro-shopping response: merchants would now have a holiday further from Christmas to allow for more shopping time. In a way, this birthed the consumer craze known as Black Friday nearly 80 years ago.
The following year (1940), the change stuck as the second-to-last Thursday (Nov. 21) was declared the official Thanksgiving Day. In 1941, he reportedly admitted that the switch was a mistake, but because the calendars were already printed with the third Thursday as Thanksgiving Day, it was too late to go back.
As 1941 ended, Roosevelt made the final permanent change, as he signed a bill making Thanksgiving Day fall on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of if it is the last Thursday of the month or not.
And for 2019, you may be thinking, “When is Thanksgiving?” This year, the month of November begins on a Friday, which means the fourth Thursday of the month falls on Nov. 28—it’s the first time Thanksgiving has been this late since 2013.
The U.S. had record Holiday Retail Sales figures in December 2007 — right before the crash of 2008 . . . it took 3 years before the sales figures rebounded . . . I hope everyone who spent big this weekend was stocking up in preparation for the next big crash in 2020.
Silly boy. Very very different circumstances. The collapse in 2008 was essentially man made, by the government, by asinine tampering with the financial system by the left, and by a financial services industry that looked to profit from government demands for more loans for financially unqualified people.
The musician websites I hang on seems people aren’t spending much this year. The one thing I was hoping to find a discount on no one had sales on. I did stumble on MIDI software app was had been interested in and got it so I spent about $20. I was hanging at the local music store today and it was dead except for people taking lessons. I don’t think this is going to be a big holiday spending season for the average person.
At the Grove Mall in Los Angeles, the place was packed. Including, as always, the Apple Store. I got my new MacBook Pro 16, and observed people buying watches, iPads, iPhones, and accessories. The restaurants were busy (which is always a good sign), and the foot traffic was heavy.
Maybe lots of people didn’t show up in the music store because, as the article stated, “According to new figures published by Adobe Analytics on Friday, consumers spent a staggering $4.2 billion ONLINE…”
I did have one client who refuses to buy online come by, pick me up, take me to the Apple Store with him for advice on buying a new computer.
Online sales overall will probably much higher than ever before. In some areas sales taxes will have an effect. I had to pay the state of California $500 for the privilege of buying a new MacBook Pro 16. Meanwhile I’m watching the homeless “city” 2 blocks from where I live continue to grow.
I did hear of a new left wing group encouraging people not to spend money this season in order to make the economy look bad. Ok. Weird, but completely legal, and no one’s head get’s bashed in. I would suggest they change it to a “Buy nothing new” movement to encourage recycling of perfectly good stuff like used iPhones, but I think they want the movement of money completely stopped.
Yeah, because suggesting one avoid Black Friday and consumer spending is an exclusively “left wing” affair.
“Why Christians Should Avoid Black Friday”
https://www.beliefnet.com/love-family/holidays/why-christians-should-avoid-black-friday.aspx
When you say avoid spending in order to make the economy look bad, yeah, that’s left as you can get.