Thanksgiving Day online sales already up from last year as more people shop with smartphones

(BigStock Photo / DisobeyArt)

Americans are doing their holiday shopping online — and with their smartphones — more than ever.

Adobe released initial online shopping data on Thursday, noting that there was already nearly $360 million in sales as of 7 a.m. PT — up 17.6 percent from last year.

More people are also buying from their smartphone — a record 44.2 percent of all traffic to retail sites came from smartphones so far on Thursday, up 16 percent from last year. Meanwhile, traffic from desktop and tablets are down.

Adobe, which draws data from 80 percent of online transactions at the largest 100 U.S. web retailers, noted an average savings of more than 10 percent for computers, televisions, and toys, with greater discounts expected on Black Friday. Apple AirPods; Amazon Echo; Playstation VR; Oculus Rift; and Dell/HP/Lenovo/Acer laptops are the most popular electronics this holiday season.

"Thanksgiving is shaping up to be a record-breaking shopping day," Mickey Mericle, vice president, Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe, said in a statement. "Conversion rates across the board are seeing double digit growth, and we'll see that continue throughout the week as we expect Black Friday and Cyber Monday to pull in the most spend."

Earlier this month Adobe predicted that Thanksgiving Day sales are expected to reach a record $2.8 billion, up 15 percent year-over-year, and that Cyber Monday will be the largest online shopping day in history with a predicted $6.6 billion in sales, up 16.5 percent.

So far this month (Nov. 1 to Nov. 22), U.S. consumers have spent $30.4 billion online, up nearly 18 percent from last year, as retailers offer more and more online deals throughout the holiday season, and not just during Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are some Black Friday shopping tips:

Source: Thanksgiving Day online sales already up from last year as more people shop with smartphones