Online Sales Surge on Super Saturday

RAPAPORT… US e-commerce sales rose on Super Saturday, with consumers steering away from buying in stores when they made their last-minute pre-Christmas purchases.

Consumers shelled out $1.6 billion on the December 19 shopping day, up 30% year on year from 2019, Adobe Analytics said Monday. That led a weekend of strong digital sales, as consumers spent $1.9 billion via their laptops and smartphones the following Sunday, an increase of 56% over the previous year.

The growth follows the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) prediction that 150 million consumers planned to shop on Super Saturday, both in-store and online. Some 42% of those surveyed said they intended to only buy online on the discount day. In fact, the number of shoppers purchasing in stores fell 41% compared with a year ago, according to shopping tracker RetailNext.

Purchases from smartphones made up more than a third of sales over the Super Saturday weekend, growing 45% to $65.2 billion. Meanwhile, curbside pick-up accounted for 43% of online sales at retailers that provided that option, Adobe noted.

Many shoppers have yet to complete their holiday purchases, the NRF observed. A large portion of respondents said they were still deciding what to buy, while others noted they were waiting for lists from family and friends or holding out for the best deals.

Total e-commerce holiday sales from the beginning of November until the end of the full Super Saturday weekend climbed 31% to $165.7 billion, Adobe said. The analytics company predicted total online sales through December 31 would reach $184 billion.

Image: A woman shopping online. (Pixabay)