U.S. Thanksgiving e-commerce sales expected to grow 50.2%

Recently, Mastercard released its forecast for Thanksgiving sales in the United States in 2021. According to Mastercard's report, U.S. retail sales are expected to increase by 10 % year-on-year during Thanksgiving this year . At the same time, e-commerce is also expected to achieve continued growth, and it is expected that this year's U.S. Thanksgiving e-commerce sales will increase by 50.2% compared with the same period in 2019.

Mastercard said this holiday season is gradually becoming a seller's market for retailers as inventory of goods is tight due to the global supply chain crisis and shopping demand from U.S. consumers increases.

This holiday shopping season, the trends worth paying attention to are as follows:

Merchandise discounts will be lower than expected : Mastercard said merchandise discounts will be lower than expected during Thanksgiving this year as consumers anticipate spending on gift items such as apparel, electronics and jewelry , and retailers face higher costs in managing inventory and shipping products.

Black Friday sales are expected to rise : Last year, Black Friday sales were greatly affected by the limited number of in-store shoppers due to the pandemic. With the return of consumers this year, Black Friday sales are expected to rebound this year. Mastercard said that this year's Black Friday total retail sales in the United States will increase by more than 20%.

Many stores will be closed on Thanksgiving, and online sales will surge : In order to allow consumers and employees to have time to connect with family and friends, many large retailers, department stores and outlet malls will be closed on Thanksgiving . This creates a great opportunity for the growth of online sales. Mastercard predicts that e-commerce sales on Thanksgiving will increase by 50.2 % compared with the same period in 2019 .

As Mastercard expected, holiday shopping kicked off in October , with early promotions driving online and in-store consumers. It is reported that US retail sales increased by 6.1 % year-on-year in October , e-commerce sales increased by 13.2% year-on-year , and increased by 76.7% compared with the same period in 2019. Compared with 2020 and 2019, categories such as clothing, jewelry, and luxury goods have achieved substantial double-digit growth.

Holiday Shopping Season

Thanksgiving Day

Sales Forecast