, launched their holiday sales early this year in the hopes of getting consumers to start shopping early. But the differing estimates from Adobe Analytics and Salesforce for the days before Thanksgiving make it unclear if those efforts successfully convinced consumers to start shopping earlier, bolstering retailers' holiday sales in turn.
Regardless of how retailers performed before Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer massive sales opportunities that can drive their holiday sales — and early returns for Black Friday look strong. Black Friday US online sales had already reached $600 million by 9 a.m. EST on Friday, according to Adobe Analytics, potentially putting it on the path to meet the firm's expectation of $7.5 billion in e-commerce sales for the day.
And with Cyber Monday projected to bring in a whopping $9.4 billion in online sales, e-tailers still have plenty of opportunities to bring in revenue, even if they did come up short prior to Thanksgiving. And despite the shortened holiday schedule, there are still plenty of days for retailers to attract sales before Christmas, so finding ways to bring consumers back throughout the season, like new deals and discounts on follow-up purchases, may help retailers secure strong holiday performances.
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