Online spending in US over $1 bn by Thanksgiving evening: Adobe Digital Index

Online spending by US bargain hunters had increased to over $1 billion by Thanksgiving evening, according to Adobe Digital Index, vaulting around 14 per cent from a year ago and reflecting a broader trend away from brick-and-mortar shopping.

With the first holiday shopping season since the election of Donald Trump as president underway, US consumers loosened their purse strings and spent $1.15 billion online between midnight and 5 pm ET on Thursday, according to Adobe.

The day after Thanksgiving or Black Friday traditionally started the holiday shopping season in the US with retailers offering huge discounts and turning a profit. Its popularity, however, had been  declining given the emergence of online shopping and cheap deals through the year from retailers including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.

US stores now opened on Thanksgiving to try and increase in-store sales, even as retailers offered  online deals weeks in advance to cope with lower demand and stiff pricing competition.

"We saw one of our strongest days ever online," Brian Cornell, chief executive of discount retailer Target, told reporters on Thursday evening. He added that online sales were up by double digits, offering no further details.

The holiday season spanning November and December was crucial for retailers as it could  account for as much as 40 per cent of annual sales. Retailers tried to attract customers with deep discounts, sometimes of as much as 85 per cent.

Adobe, which was tracking e-commerce transactions in real time, said that by 5pm Eastern time online retailers had clocked up $1.15 billion, up 13.6 per cent on a year ago. Of that, $449 million was spent on mobile devices ($322 million smartphones; $127 million tablets), a record amount and up 58.6 per cent on 2015. Desktop sites accounted for $702 million worth of purchases.

Though earlier yesterday, Adobe said Thanksgiving Day would break the $2 billion mark for money spent online, it had modified that somewhat saying spending was ''on track to either hit or come close to $2 billion.''