{"url":"https://www.clear.sale/blog/how-the-2018-holiday-shopping-season-is-breaking-records","title":"How the 2018 Holiday Shopping Season Is Breaking Records","tldr":"The holiday shopping season had a record-breaking start Thanksgiving weekend. Here","markdown":"Holiday shopping over the Thanksgiving holiday has become as American a tradition as turkey, pumpkin pie and football games. This year was no different, as e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers prepared for an estimated 164 million shoppers to start their holiday shopping between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday.\n\nTotal retail sales for the holiday shopping season -- spanning Nov. 1-Dec. 31 -- are projected to [surpass $1 trillion](https://www.cnet.com/news/holiday-shopping-could-top-1-trillion-for-the-first-time-this-year/) in the United States for the first time this year. And to ensure they get their share of the consumer purchase pie, merchants are dropping shipping minimums, matching prices and offering promotions.\n\nWith the year’s biggest shopping season just behind us, let’s break it down, day by day, and see who the big winners were and how they compared with last year’s totals.\n\n### Who Went Shopping, When?\n\nOf the 164 million individuals planning to shop over the holiday weekend:\n\n- 21% expected to shop on Thanksgiving Day.\n\n- More than 70% planned to shop on Black Friday.\n\n- 41% expected to head out on Small Business Saturday.\n\n- 20% planned to shop on Sunday.\n\n- More than 45% were going to take advantage of Cyber Monday sales.\n\n*Source:*[National Retail Federation Survey](https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-survey-says-more-164-million-consumers-plan-shop-over-five-day)\n\n## Thanksgiving Day: Breaking New Records\n\nDespite plenty of retail locations open on the Thanksgiving holiday, foot traffic at brick-and-mortar locations showed a year-over-year [decline of 1%](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-thanksgiving-foot-traffic-drops-1-percent-shoppertrak.html).\n\n[Online sales](https://blog.clear.sale/how-to-boost-your-holiday-ecommerce-sales) were still brisk, however, with online shoppers spending an average [8% more](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html) on Thanksgiving in 2018 than they did in 2017. Many online retailers opened their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day, encouraging increased traffic and higher sales. In fact, Thanksgiving Day purchases online generated [$3.7 billion](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181126005829/en/Adobe-Analytics-Data-Shows-Cyber-Monday-Broke) in revenue, making it the fastest-growing day for online sales.\n\n## Black Friday Sales: More Consumers Turn to Mobile Shopping\n\nBlack Friday sales continue to be a huge revenue driver for merchants, with companies like Walmart generating sales of [$5 billion](https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/2018/11/black-friday-around-the-world-12837/) in just the one day. Although foot traffic at retail locations on Black Friday also saw a [1% year-over-year decline](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-thanksgiving-foot-traffic-drops-1-percent-shoppertrak.html), customers showed a new interest in “click-and-collect” orders, with these types of orders [up 73%](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html) from Thanksgiving to Black Friday.\n\nBut many shoppers opted to shop from the comfort of their homes (and their elastic-waisted) sweatpants and grabbing online deals from their smartphones and home computers. Big-ticket items -- like appliances and furniture -- seemed to be the purchases of choice of [mobile shoppers](https://blog.clear.sale/how-ready-is-your-mobile-channel-for-the-2018-holiday-shopping-season), with average order values reaching [nearly $150](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html).\n\nOnline sales hit a record [$6.2 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html) in sales Friday, up nearly 25% from 2017’s levels. Another first this year: Smartphones accounted for more than [$2 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html) in sales, or 33.5% of all of Friday’s e-commerce, according to Adobe.\n\nEven with the slower in-store foot traffic, Bluecore reported that retailers sold [307% more](https://www.yahoo.com/news/first-time-buyers-drive-black-friday-fashion-sales-121318711.html) on Black Friday this year than they do on typical shopping days.\n\n## Small Business Saturday: Increasing in Popularity\n\nSmall businesses also benefited from brisk holiday sales. By 10 a.m. ET on Nov. 24, [customers had spent $400 million](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html), up 24% from 2017. Online sales for Small Business Saturday were projected to top $3 billion by the end of the day.\n\n## Cyber Monday Sales: The Biggest Online Shopping Day Ever\n\nShoppers woke up on Monday ready for more deals, and retailers didn’t disappoint. Adobe projected total online shopping would reach $7.9 billion in sales by the end of the day\n\nThe shopping didn’t stop when the sun went down; in fact, the hours between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. alone were expected to drive [more than $1.5 billion](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181126005829/en/Adobe-Analytics-Data-Shows-Cyber-Monday-Broke) in sales -- approximately $300 million more than shoppers spend in an average full day during the year.\n\nBy the time the last transaction was processed 2018’s Cyber Monday was the largest online shopping day ever in the United States.\n\nAnd it could’ve been even bigger.\n\nAdobe reported that out-of-stock levels rose significantly over the shopping holiday, costing merchants [more than $480 million](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181126005829/en/Adobe-Analytics-Data-Shows-Cyber-Monday-Broke) in potential sales.\n\n## How to Protect Your Growing Sales\n\nOver the entire five-day shopping holiday, shoppers spent more than $24 billion online, according to Adobe. And that’s just the icing on the e-commerce shopping cake. This year’s November holiday shopping season has so far generated [$58.5 billion in online sales](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181126005829/en/Adobe-Analytics-Data-Shows-Cyber-Monday-Broke), a nearly 20% increase over 2017 levels.\n\nWith so many potential sales -- both during the holiday shopping season and all year long -- your e-commerce business needs to be protected against the risk of [card-not-present fraud](https://blog.clear.sale/cnp-fraud-spikes-during-the-holiday-shopping-season). **ClearSale’s proprietary machine learning technology, combined with our highly trained staff of experts, means you can confidently grow your sales even in the busiest of shopping seasons.**[Contact us today](https://www2.clear.sale/contact)**to get started.**\n\n****"}