In 2018, revenue generated by online holiday shopping (the 61 days period between the 1^st of November and New Year’s Eve) in the US totalled 126.0 billion US dollars, 16.5% more than on similar period in 2017.

Since 2016, online holiday season revenue growth has been increasing, with this performance being the result of a strong consumer confidence.

The online revenue growth during holiday continues to outpace the overall retail growth: as 16.5% online growth compares to 4.5% overall growth (The National Retail Federation estimates overall holiday retail increased to be between 4.3% and 4.8%).

According to the report daily sales averaged 2.1 billion US dollars across the whole season, up from 1.8 billion US dollars last year (an increase of 16.5%). In 2018, there were 26 2 billion US dollars days, up from the 15 registered last year. On top of that, every day exceeded the 1 billion US dollars mark, with the exception of the days before Christmas and the day itself (22^nd, 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th).

BOPIS orders increased by 47% YoY from the 1^st of November to the 19^th December 19th, with a more underlined growth during the 5-day Holiday weekend (50% YoY). The same report concludes that BOPIS baskets tend to contain few items (average order size: 1.9 vs 2.7 units) and comprise less expensive items (average unit value of the basket: 38 US dollars compares to 42 US dollars).

Other interesting findings

- For the first time smartphones accounted for half of all visits;
- Christmas continues to be the most mobile-centric day: Christmas Day saw 61% of visits and 42% of revenue coming via smartphone;
- Dominance of the 5-day weekend: The period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday generated 1 US dollars in 5 US dollars overall holiday spending online, accounting for 19.2% of total revenue. In total, the five-day weekend drove 24.2 billion US dollars in sales, a 23% increase over last year. Thanksgiving (3.7 billion US dollars; +27.9%), Black Friday (6.2 billion US dollars; +23.6%) and Cyber Monday (7.9 billion US dollars; +19.3%) all broke sales records during the stretch.

About the report

Adobe’s retail report is based on the analysis of over 1 trillion visits to retail sites and 55 million unique products. Adobe Analytics measures transactions at 80 of the top 100 retailers on the web in the US.