By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-28 17:16:59 | Updated at 2026-09-28 20:18:33
3 hours ago
U.S. Postal Service employees work during the start of the holiday mail rush inside the Los Angeles Mail Processing & Distribution Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 3, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Online shopping is expected to hit record levels this holiday season, according to a new forecast from Adobe.
The software company on Sept. 25 projected that U.S. consumers will spend $275.1 billion online between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, up 6.7 percent from the same period last year.
The forecast is based on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, and covers 100 million products across 18 categories.
Cyber Monday (Nov. 30) is expected to remain the biggest online shopping day of the year, with sales reaching $15.1 billion, a 6.2 percent increase from 2025.
Black Friday (Nov. 27) is forecast to grow at a faster pace. Online spending that day is expected to climb 9.2 percent to $12.9 billion as retailers roll out deeper discounts.
Altogether, the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday is projected to generate $47.5 billion in online sales. That would account for more than 17 percent of all holiday e-commerce spending.
But consumers are no longer waiting until Thanksgiving weekend to begin their holiday shopping.
Adobe expects online spending in October to reach $95.8 billion, up 8 percent from a year earlier. Almost $10 billion is expected to be spent during Amazon’s Prime Day event on Oct. 6 and 7, while other competing e-commerce sites roll out their own promotions.
Electronics, toys, and apparel are expected to remain popular, but consumers are also likely to use holiday promotions to stock up on everyday necessities.
Sales of basic clothing items during Cyber Week are forecast to rise 210 percent from average September levels, according to Adobe. Personal hygiene products could climb 150 percent, while baby products, pet products, and household cleaning items are also expected to see dramatic hikes.
Adobe’s forecast is in line with other projections pointing to continued growth in online shopping.
Deloitte expects U.S. e-commerce sales from November through January to reach between $316.1 billion and $318.9 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent to 8.4 percent from a year earlier. The accounting firm said consumers are continuing to seek value through promotions, comparison shopping, and switching between brands and retailers.
Mastercard Economics Institute, using a shorter Nov. 1–Dec. 24 period, expects online sales to rise 11 percent from last year, compared with a 5.5 percent increase in overall retail spending.
Newer shopping tools are also expected to play a larger role.
Adobe forecasts that buy-now-pay-later services will finance $21.3 billion in holiday purchases, up 6.6 percent.
Traffic to retail websites from artificial intelligence-powered shopping tools is also expected to jump 130 percent from a year earlier, as consumers increasingly use chatbots to compare products and look for deals.
