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U.S. shoppers spent $5.6 billion online on Thanksgiving Day 2023, a 5.5% increase from 2022, according to Adobe Analytics. That figure covers online retail transactions—not all spending in stores and online—and Adobe says smartphone purchases made up 59% of Thanksgiving’s online sales.
How much did Americans spend online on Thanksgiving 2023?
Adobe Analytics reported $5.6 billion in U.S. online spending on Thanksgiving 2023, up 5.5% year over year. Adobe’s analysis drew on more than one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million product SKUs and 18 product categories. It is an analytics-based estimate of online retail activity, not a census of all U.S. retail purchases.
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Adobe had forecast the same $5.6 billion total and 5.5% growth in an October 5, 2023 outlook. Its November 28 retrospective reported those figures as the outcome after the holiday. Adobe’s Cyber Week retrospective and October forecast distinguish the forecast from the reported result.
How did Thanksgiving compare with Black Friday and Cyber Week?
Using Adobe Analytics’ online-sales measure for 2023, Thanksgiving’s total was lower than Black Friday’s, while Cyber Week’s combined spending was substantially larger. The figures cover different time spans, so the Cyber Week total is not a single-day comparison.
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| Shopping date or period | U.S. online spending | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | $5.6 billion | +5.5% |
| Black Friday | $9.8 billion | +7.5% |
| Cyber Week | $38 billion | +7.8% |
All three amounts and growth rates are Adobe Analytics’ reported 2023 figures. They should not be compared directly with a separate estimate that combines online and in-store purchases unless the difference in measurement is made clear.
What role did smartphones play?
Smartphones accounted for 59% of Thanksgiving online sales in 2023, compared with 55% in 2022, according to Adobe Analytics. Across Cyber Week, smartphones represented 51.8% of online sales, up from 49.9% in 2022. The Thanksgiving share is specific to that day; the Cyber Week figure covers the broader period.
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Did discounts motivate shoppers?
Adobe attributed the record online spending across Cyber Week in part to the effect discounts can have on consumer demand, particularly when quality products encourage impulse purchases. That is Adobe’s interpretation of the broader Cyber Week results; the report does not establish that discounts alone caused Thanksgiving’s year-over-year increase.
Adobe reported Cyber Monday discount peaks of 31% for electronics, 27% for toys, 23% for apparel, 21% for furniture and 18% for appliances. Those are Cyber Monday category figures, not realized Thanksgiving discount rates. The retrospective does not provide a corresponding Thanksgiving-only breakdown.
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- This Visa Virtual eGift Card is non-reloadable. No cash or ATM access. Visa Virtual eGift Cards are emailed active.
- Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
- This item is not eligible for refund, resale, or return. Available for sale within the United States only. Not available to residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, West Virginia and the US Virgin Islands.
What the spending figure does—and does not—tell you
- It measures U.S. online retail spending on Thanksgiving, rather than the combined value of online and in-store purchases.
- It is Adobe Analytics’ estimate based on its analysis of retail-site activity, not a government-wide retail census.
- The growth rate compares the reported online total with Thanksgiving 2022; it does not show how much an individual shopper spent or saved.
- Adobe’s Cyber Week discount peaks describe Cyber Monday and should not be treated as evidence of Thanksgiving-specific deals.
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