Early figures for online shopping on Thanksgiving Day show a substantial increase from last year, a sign both of the growing role of e-commerce and of the shopping season’s inroads into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Custora, a company that helps retailers track e-commerce data, said the number of online transactions was up nearly 20 percent on Thanksgiving Day versus last year. However, the buying still remains well below Black Friday volumes, which in 2013 were 2.5 times higher than Thanksgiving Day this year.
Revenue was up 17.7 percent from last year, Custora said. Mobile orders accounted for slightly more than a third of the total, versus one fifth last year.
Target, which made steep discounts available online as early as Thursday morning, said both the number of orders and the sales total rose 40 percent from last year, making the day its biggest online sales day ever. Mobile phones and tablets drove the growth in traffic and sales, Target said. The online sales boost comes at the beginning of what many retailers and analysts expect will be the best holiday selling season all around, after years of wobbly response from customers.
National Retail Federation president Matthew Shay said in a statement that “reports of record-breaking online sales and store crowds point to a more confident and savvy holiday shopper who knows when, where and how to take advantage of all the promotions retailers are offering.”