Cyber Monday on track for record US online sales

US online sales are set to hit a new record on this week’s ‘Cyber Monday’, Adobe Analytics said, as e-commerce outlets gear up to lure shoppers in the opening days of the holiday season. Internet purchases are expected to reach USD 9.4 billion, a jump of nearly 19 percent over last year’s record-setting USD 7.9 billion take, according to a Sunday estimate from the company, which measures transactions from 80 of the 100 largest US online retailers.

US merchants have long viewed the days after the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday as a prime time to part shoppers from their money, particularly during the ‘Black Friday’ sales following the holiday. This year’s expected record-setting shopping comes as Price Waterhouse Cooper found for the first time that a majority of people surveyed said they would rather shop online than in a brick-and-mortar store. Shoppers spent USD 7.4 billion online on Friday, according to Adobe.