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Amazon

Thanksgiving online sales top $1 billion for first time

Alistair Barr and Kevin McCoy
USA TODAY
Employee Lamar Roby prepares shipping orders at Amazon's San Bernardino Fulfillment Center Oct. 29, 2013 in San Bernardino, Calif.
  • Revenues for major online retailers rose nearly 40%25 from 2012
  • Mobile devices account for larger share of holiday sales
  • National Retail Federation to issue Black Friday sales report on Sunday

Thanksgiving became a billion-dollar online shopping day for the first time this year as more consumers used tablets to browse for deals from their couches and e-commerce companies ramped up promotions.

Thanksgiving online sales came in at $1.06 billion in the U.S., according to Adobe Systems, which analyzed 180 million visits to more than 1,000 U.S. retail websites.

Thanksgiving Day revenue for leading online retailers rose nearly 40% from last year, e-commerce firm Monetate said in a separate sales report. The totals reflected this year's rare convergence of the holiday with the first night of Hannukah.

The increases included a 73.6% rise in revenue from shoppers using tablets, a 50.7% rise in sales to smartphone users and a 39.8% increase in revenues via laptop and desktop computers, said Pennsylvania-based Monetate, which based the findings on data from nearly 30 million online shopping sessions.

Until recently, Thanksgiving was a non-event for shoppers as most physical stores were shut and it was considered rude for family and friends to fire up desktop computers to search for holiday gifts and deals.

However, the rise of tablet computers and smartphones has made it easier — and arguably more socially acceptable — for consumers to shop online as they relax on the couch after the traditional turkey dinner. This trend is known as couch commerce and it has driven a surge in Thanksgiving holiday sales online.

A record 21% of all Thanksgiving online sales came through mobile devices this year, with $152 million spent via tablets and $70 million via smartphones, Adobe said.

Monetate reported that average Thanksgiving Day order value increased 11.8% for leading ecommerce retailers in comparison to 2012.

Amazon and eBay, the largest e-commerce companies in the U.S., performed strongly on Thanksgiving because of heavy promotions that lured more shoppers online.

"Consumers are on the couch doing a lot of their shopping and retailers are a lot more prepared for that this year," said Scot Wingo, CEO of e-commerce company ChannelAdvisor. "Amazon and eBay do very well from this trend too."

Online sales combined with this year's early store openings on Thanksgiving Day and traditional Black Friday sales to propel holiday weekend retail revenue toward new records, National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay said Friday. His organization is set to release the results of its annual Black Friday shopping survey on Sunday.

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