US online sales hit $5.1B on Thanksgiving Day

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Online sales hit $5.1 billion on Thanksgiving Day in the US, at lower-end of estimates, according to Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) data on Friday.

The digital market research agency expected online sales to come between $5.1-$5.9 billion on Thanksgiving Day.

While this year's e-commerce figure matched last year’s, online spending marked almost a 21% increase from Thanksgiving Day in 2019.

Online sales coming at lower-end of estimates could be a result of global supply chain issues and American consumers starting shopping early this holiday season, which officially starts on Nov. 1 and continues through New Year's Eve.

ADI, however, said e-commerce spending is on track to surpass the $200 billion mark for first time in history to reach $207 billion this season.

For Black Friday, online sales are forecast to hit a record high of $9.5 billion, according to ADI.

Cyber Monday, which started in 2005 to encourage consumers to shop on the internet, is projected to rack up $11.3 billion in a single day, ADI's data showed.