Thanksgiving Surprises With New Online Sales Records

More than $1.7 billion was estimated to have been spent online during the day, a 22% increase over last year.
By Rebecca Borison ,

Updated to include more recent numbers from ChannelAdvisor.

While many Americans were stuffing themselves with turkey yesterday, at least some around the country were busy shopping online.

Between midnight and 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, more than $1 billion was spent online, according to Adobe, and they projected that the full day would surpass $1.7 billion, up 22% over last year.

A significant amount of that shopping was done on mobile devices -- 26% to be exact, with 15% on smartphones and 11% on tablets, according to Adobe.

"Mobile shopping is particularly popular during key holiday dates like Thanksgiving and Black Friday because phones allow shoppers to access time-constrained offers at any time wherever they may be," Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali said. "Consumers continue to look to the web channel for convenience, selection, and value over physical stores."

ChannelAdvisor, which tracks third-party sellers on online marketplaces such as Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report and eBay (EBAY) - Get Report , saw an even larger uptick than Adobe during Thanksgiving.

During the 24 hours of Thanksgiving Day, ChannelAdvisor estimated that e-commerce sales were up 43.4% over last year. In 2014, that same period saw growth of just 20.1% over the previous year.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon specifically had a great Thanksgiving, with 28.9% year-over-year growth during that 24-hour period, according to ChannelAdvisor. eBay grew 7%, significantly less, but much higher than its normal rate of growth.

"This is going to be an Amazon holiday season," TheStreet's Jim Cramer said. Cramer said he favors Amazon over the traditional retailers because of its strong business model.

Whether you prefer Amazon or other retailers, if you were waiting on Cyber Monday to start shopping online, you may want to think twice. Products like the Crayola Super Art Coloring Kit and Barbie in Rock 'N Royals Super Star Limo are running out-of-stock fast, according to Adobe.

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