Rebecca Day

Cyber Monday was on track to become the highest online spending day ever, said Adobe Analytics in a Monday morning update, after Black Friday crushed previous sales records, soaring 22% to $9 billion at a spending rate of $6.3 million per minute.

Black Friday weekend started out as much of 2020 has played out -- unpredictably, with Thanksgiving Day sales coming in at $5.1 billion, well below Adobe’s forecast of $6 billion (see 2011240039). “Heavy discounts and aggressive promotions starting in early November succeeded at getting consumers to open their wallets earlier,” said Taylor Schreiner, director-Adobe Digital Insights, in a Friday morning update.

Sonos is selling speaker bundles as part of its $100-off holiday promotions, including an indoor/outdoor bundle combining One and Move ($498) speakers. A multiroom entertainment set bundling an Arc sound bar and Move is $1,098. Other $100-off deals include a stand-alone Move to $299, the Beam sound bar ($299) and the Sub ($599). Sonos Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley said on a recent earnings call (see 2011190057) that the company began discounting for the holidays earlier than usual this season consistent with what “other partners and retailers are seeing.” She predicted “less back-end loading” this quarter than in previous holiday quarters. Sonos expects the holiday quarter to contribute less total revenue as a percentage of the total fiscal year than last year, said Bagley, citing supply chain constraints. The company is feeling impacts from component and container availability, port congestion and higher shipping and logistics costs, she said.

Sonos had 31.6 million products registered in 10.9 million households worldwide, and added more than 1.8 million new households during fiscal 2020 ended Oct. 3, said the company’s annual report, filed with the SEC Monday. Some 61% of its households had registered more than one Sonos product, and the company estimates customers listened to 10.2 billion hours of audio through its products during the year, up 33% from fiscal 2019. Existing customers were 41% of new product registrations, up from 37% a year ago. “We believe that we have yet to fully realize the lifetime value of our customer base,” it said.

Best Buy's Q3 comparable sales surged 23% year on year to $11.8 billion, riding October promotions including a Prime Day sales lift and early holiday deals, said CEO Corie Barry on a Tuesday investor call. Domestic revenue grew 21% year on year to $10.85 billion in the quarter ended Oct 31.

Despite inventory shortages, major computer discounts kicked in Sunday at an average 27.8% savings, Adobe Analytics emailed Tuesday. Overall electronics discounts averaged 23.6%. Some $58.9 billion was spent Nov. 1 through Monday. The new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S game consoles are selling out quickly, said the analytics firm. Top electronics sellers include Amazon’s Echo and Fire TV and Oculus' virtual reality headsets. Shoppers are using their smartphones to place orders more than ever, with $22.8 billion spent on handsets Nov. 1-23, a 49% year-on-year increase, it said. Large retailers with over $1 billion in annual revenue had revenue gains of more than 136% over the past three days vs. an October baseline; small-to-medium size retailers had a 117% boost. Some 70% of consumers said the surge in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks prompted them to buy more online. Two-thirds have started holiday shopping; 20% plan to start over Black Friday weekend; and 56% believe the best discounts will be saved for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, said a November survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. Expedited shipping grew 67%; standard shipping is up 61%, said Adobe. Curbside and in-store pickup rose 115% year on year; retailers that offer it are having 25% of orders fulfilled using the options and report 32% higher conversion than retailers that don’t offer it. Adobe reaffirmed its full season November-December forecast of $189 billion spent online for 33% year-on-year growth: It predicts Thanksgiving sales will hit $6 billion, up 42.3%; Black Friday sales growth of 39.2% to $10.3 billion; and Cyber Monday sales rising 35.3% to $12.7 billion. Retailers are accelerating promotional strategies while shipping and fulfillment systems “stretch under pressure,” said analyst Taylor Schreiner. Despite an earlier start to holiday deals, Adobe expects “record buying” through Thanksgiving weekend: “Shoppers have been conditioned to expect deals and save money, and retailers will meet the call.” Nov. 9-17, when vaccine news emerged from Pfizer and Moderna, bookings for 2021 travel grew 35% vs. the year-ago span. Tickets for air travel are slower than in years past, but “consumer optimism is rising,” Schreiner said.

Citing uncertainties in a “historic” year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, an “emotional” election period and social unrest, National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay forecast a rosy 3.6%-5.2% year-on-year holiday sales season lift to $755.3 billion-$766.7 billion, on a Monday call. Retail had “robust consumption” over the past six months, Shay said, and consumers are “excited about the holidays.” Sales for the Nov. 1-Dec. 31 period last year grew 4% to $729.1 billion.

Bally's and Sinclair’s partnership to integrate gaming content into Sinclair’s 190 TV stations and 21 regional sports networks will be a factor in pending negotiations about distribution with sports teams, said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley on a Thursday call. “It’s a proven phenomenon” from research and oversees markets that “real-money” sports betting “creates a virtuous circle of viewership,” said Ripley. “More gaming creates more viewership, creates more gaming, which creates more viewership.” Gaming will be a “huge megatrend in sports watching" that will ultimately make sports and sports rights more valuable, Ripley said.

Sonos shares soared 29.8% Thursday to close at $22.19 after a fiscal Q4 report showed higher-than-expected revenue, an $18.4 million profit and growth in new households. Revenue grew 16% year on year to nearly $340 million for the quarter ended Oct. 3, up 36% sequentially on strong demand for new and existing products, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley on a Wednesday investor call. For the year, revenue climbed 5% to $1.3 billion.

Target executives credited “flexibility” and “agility” for a 20.7% year-on-year hike in comparable sales vs. Q3 2019. Stores had a 9.9% year-on-year comparable sales bump; digital comps spiked 155%, they said on a Wednesday investor call. Sales through same-day services -- order pickup, drive up and Shipt -- soared 217% year on year.