US online holiday sales rise nearly 9% on mobile shopping boom, report shows
Source: Yahoo! Finance/Reuters
Updated Tue, January 7, 2025 at 12:53 PM EST
(Reuters) -U.S. online spending rose nearly 9% during the 2024 holiday season, with shoppers increasingly buying products such as TVs and LEGO sets on their smartphones, data from Adobe Analytics showed on Tuesday. Holiday spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 rose 8.7% to about $241.4 billion online, higher than Adobe's initial forecast of $240.8 billion made in September.
In 2023, online spending during the same period grew 4.9%. Retailers, including Walmart and Target, spent more on ads, offered early discounts and targeted promotions, and used artificial intelligence to drive sales during a shorter holiday season and draw in bargain-hungry customers.
But, the higher-than-forecast jump in online spending may not translate into profits for retailers, said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Walmart, Target, Macy's and other major retailers do not report on the full results of the holiday season until later this winter.
"I'm a little nervous going into earnings season to see if the big gains online translate into big profits for retailers," Jacobsen said, adding that the discounts that drove sales can eat into margins.
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-online-holiday-sales-rise-130855666.html
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