U.S. retailers rake in billions

U.S. retailers kicked off Cyber Monday by launching a slew of deals earlier than usual over the weekend, seeking to sustain the momentum of a record US$11.6 billion in online sales on U.S. Thanksgiving on Thursday and on Black Friday.

Shoppers already had nearly a month of sales promotions as retailers look to draw out a holiday season that on paper is six days shorter this year due to a late Thanksgiving.

But estimates from Adobe Analytics on Sunday predicted the opening weekend of U.S. retailers’ crucial holiday season would set a new record of almost US$30 billion in sales, with Cyber Monday — now traditionally the U.S. economy’s biggest online shopping day — alone expected to reach US$9.4 billion.

Amazon.com Inc. and other traditional retailers such as Target Corp. and Walmart have beefed up delivery services to fulfill online orders faster as more customers shop on their mobile phones and tablets at home.

“We expect Cyber Monday to be the second most popular day of the five-day shopping period, mostly driven by mobile traffic,” Cowen analyst Oliver Chen said.

Digital sales this year are also likely to get a big boost from orders through social media platforms like YouTube, WeChat, Instagram and Facebook.

“Brands and retailers will feel the effects of a Gen Z with even greater purchasing power,” said Rob Graf, vice president of strategy and insights at business software provider Salesforce.

“They are also pushing the boundaries of where actual purchases will happen.”

This year, Target made free shipping available to all its customers throughout the shopping season, while Walmart offered shoppers the option of free twoday shipping or in-store pickup on the same day.

A clear winner so far of the early deals and ramped up preparation for the holidays, were retailers with greater online presence or those who had services such as “buy online and pick up at store.”

The National Retail Federation estimates nearly 69 million Americans will scour the web for deals on everything from Apple Airpods Pro and homeware to toys, and Adobe estimates sales of US$9.4 billion would be a 19 per cent increase on the same day a year ago.

Target on Black Friday announced that it would kick off a week of online discounts a day before, while Kohl’s Corp. started online deals on Saturday, with deeper discounts on Monday.

However, the deluge of online orders are pressuring websites, some of which have experienced outages and other technical glitches.

Costco’s website went down for a brief period early on Thanksgiving Day, while Danish jewelry maker Pandora had Black Friday payment issues at U.S. and Canadian concept stores. “#CyberMonday2019 The day of the year 85 per cent of the U.S. population pretends to actually be working,” tweeted Erika Mayor, a user in Miami.

REUTERS Packaged merchandise on a conveyer belt after being labeled for shipping is seen at the Amazon fulfillment center in New Jersey. Online retailers are expected to bring in record revenues on Monday.