Online Holiday Sales to Exceed In-Store Sales? Death of Malls?

Adobe Analytics reports record online sales for both Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It believes a cyber-monday record is on the way.

U.S. retailers raked in a record $7.9 billion in online sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, up 17.9 percent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions at the largest 100 U.S. web retailers, on Saturday.

Adobe said Cyber Monday is expected to drive $6.6 billion in internet sales, which would make it the largest U.S. online shopping day in history.

Commerce marketing firm Criteo said 40 percent of Black Friday online purchases were made on mobile phones, up from 29 percent last year.

No brick-and-mortar sales data for Thanksgiving or Black Friday was immediately available, but Reuters reporters and industry analysts noted anecdotal signs of muted activity - fewer cars in mall parking lots, shoppers leaving stores without purchases in hand.

Online Sales vs Store Sales

Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing in the School of Management at the University of Buffalo predicts Online Sales to Surpass In-Store Sales for the first time ever this holiday season.

“To get the best deals, consumers can take advantage of a number of resources, such as apps like ShopSavvy, which allow them to scan an item’s barcode when shopping in a store and determine if another retailer is offering the same item for a lower price,” says Lindsey.

Death of Malls

Coupled with Amazon Prime, who needs malls?