After Slow Saturday, Online Sales Start Holiday With $2.3B in Receipts

Year-on-year online spending growth slowed on Halloween to 11%, totaling $1.7 billion, vs. 32% growth on average the week before, emailed Adobe Analytics Monday. E-commerce picked up Sunday with 34% growth to $2.3 billion on what Adobe records as the first day of the U.S. holiday sales season. The analytics firm predicts online sales of $16.3 billion during election week, through Saturday, with a slowing of 11% and a drop of $300 million Wednesday compared with the full week. Online sales dropped off 14% the day after the 2016 election and 6% after the 2018 midterm election, it said. Some 63% of retailers believe consumers will be more confident in spending after the election; 26% of consumers said the election outcome will affect their holiday spending. Adobe predicts U.S. online holiday sales will total a record $189 billion (see 2010280026), a 33% year-on-year increase. If consumers receive another round of stimulus checks, or physical stores need to shut down in large parts of the country, consumers are expected to spend an additional $11 billion online, surpassing $200 billion.