Thanksgiving weekend, traditionally considered the start of the holiday shopping season, has kicked off with a strong e-commerce performance. According to real-time data from Salesforce, online sales on Thanksgiving Day reached $33.6 billion globally, a 6% increase from last year. In the US, sales grew 8% to $8.1 billion, while Europe saw a 10% increase.

Adobe, which tracks US-only sales, reported similar figures, with shoppers spending $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving, a 9% increase from 2023. The two companies use different methodologies, with Adobe covering over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites and Salesforce drawing from shopping data from 1.5 billion consumers across its Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud.

This year's strong start is a welcome bounce from 2023, when online sales on Thanksgiving Day saw only a 1% increase globally and in the US. Adobe's figures last year showed a 5.5% growth. The economy remains uncertain in many markets, prompting retailers to offer discounts to drive sales. Both Adobe and Salesforce noted that discounts were used to lure shoppers, with the average discount in the US coming in at 27% off the listed price.

Mobile shopping played a significant role on Thanksgiving Day, with Adobe reporting an all-time high of 59.5% of online sales coming from mobile devices. This translated to $3.6 billion spent online in the US via mobile, a 10.5% year-over-year increase. Salesforce said 72% of all orders made on Thursday were on mobile devices, up 3% from 2023, with mobile accounting for 80% of all online traffic.

The holiday shopping season has become increasingly spread out, with Black Friday sales events now taking place globally and Cyber Week sales starting days before Thanksgiving. Salesforce counted Tuesday of this week as the start of Cyber Week, reporting a 7% global sales increase and a 14% increase in the US.

Interestingly, Salesforce noted a 32% increase in the use of digital agents and generative AI by retailers compared to a week ago. While this could be a promising development, it remains to be seen how effective these AI tools will be in driving sales conversions and improving the overall shopping experience.

"Holiday shopping momentum is building throughout Cyber Week with online traffic and sales on the rise. After waiting all year for the best deals of the season, shoppers are finally ready to make their holiday purchases and are flocking to their favorite sites via their mobile devices," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce, in a statement.

As the holiday shopping season continues, it will be worth watching how e-commerce sales perform and whether retailers' investments in AI and mobile shopping experiences pay off.