Higher discounts help online sales reach $25B before Black Friday

Consumers have spent more than $25 billion in online sales in the month of November already, and retailers expect that amount to rise before Christmas.

Adobe Digital Insights found more than $25 billion has been spent from Nov. 1 to Nov. 22, an increase of 3.5 percent from last year. Approximately 21 of those days have exceeded $1 billion in online sales.

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“We’re seeing high discounts for toys, tablets and computers launched in 2016; these are also the categories with products low in stock. People looking to purchase gifts in high demand should buy now,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst and director of Adobe Digital Insights. “Top selling products in electronics and toys like the NES Classic Edition, the PlayStation VR Launch Bundle and Hatchimals are already running low in stock. We expect to see even more items out of stock in the coming days.”

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The survey also found:

• Toys, tablets and computers launched in 2016 are seeing higher discounts than last year.

• Mobile shopping has accounted for about 47 percent of retail website visits and about 29 percent of purchases made online. Mobile visits and purchases are expected to increase starting on Thanksgiving Day.

• Adobe predicts Cyber Monday will generate more than $3 billion in sales with a more than 9 percent growth — the largest online shopping day of all time.

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Plan on shopping this weekend? Look in our special Thanksgiving Day edition of the newspaper for more than 70 inserts to help you prepare for Black Friday shopping. Our largest newspaper of the year features sales and ads from local and national retailers.

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