Sales via smartphones increase more than 39% year over year and generate a record $1.59 billion in revenue as of 10 p.m. Eastern on Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday online sales are up 16.8% year over year as of 10 p.m. Eastern and are projected to reach $6.59 billion, according to Adobe Analytics data. As of 4:30 p.m. Eastern, the day’s total was $3.38 billion, Adobe says.

“Cyber Monday is expected to make history again as the biggest U.S. online shopping day of all time, driving a billion dollars more than last year,” says Tamara Gaffney, strategic insights engagement group director at Adobe. “As consumers make their way back to work, they are poised to be hitting the Buy button all day, as most big discounts will end by midnight.”

Through 10 p.m., mobile accounted for  of 47.4% of web visits, with smartphones generating 39.9% of those visits and tablets the remainder. Mobile devices also accounted for 33.1% of online sales (24.1%  smartphones, 9.0% tablets). Smartphone traffic increased 22.2% year over year as of 10 p.m. Eastern and revenue driven by smartphones grew 39.2% year over year, hitting a a record of $1.59 billion in sales, according to Adobe.

Retailers’ investment in their mobile shopping experiences, such as auto-fill capabilities on the checkout page, are helping drive the mobile sales growth, Gaffney says.

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The hours of 8-11 p.m. on Cyber Monday in each local market are expected to drive  more online revenue than the average 24-hour day, and “conversion rates will reach their peak during the last hour of Cyber Monday (11 p.m. – midnight) at four times the annual average,” Adobe says.

Average order value was up early in the day: As of 10 a.m. Eastern on Cyber Monday, retailers’ AOV was up 3.4% to $137 compared with the same period last year, according to Adobe.

Online retailers’ desktop conversation rate early Monday is averaging 4.8%, which is a 5.3% year-over-year increase. The tablet conversion rate is 4.3%, which is a 1.5% increase, and the average smartphone conversion rate is 2.5%, which is a 12.3% increase from a year ago, Adobe finds.

On Black Friday, online sales totaled $5.03 billion, Adobe finds. For the weekend after Thanksgiving, Saturday and Sunday combined to generate a total of $5.13 billion in online sales, up more than 10% from these two days a year ago, though falling short of Adobe’s projections for Nov. 25-26.

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Other online sales data also are being compiled, with comScore Inc. finding:

  • Thanksgiving Day desktop sales increased 22% to $1.572 billion this year compared with $1.287 billion in 2016.
  • On Black Friday, desktop sales increased 20% to $2.36 billion  compared with $1.97 billion.
  • Apparel and accessories ranked as the top product category on Black Friday with more than $600 million in desktop sales, followed by consumer electronics with more than $500 million in sales.

ComScore attributes the Thanksgiving sales gains mostly to an increase in the number of consumers buying online, as buyers on Thursday increased 16% year over year. Thanksgiving dollars per transaction increased 3% and the number of transactions per buyer increased 2%. ComScore does not have mobile sales numbers available yet and declines to provide estimates.

Trends from Thanksgiving and the weekend are good news for Cyber Monday sales, says comScore’s Andrew Lipsman, senior vice president of marketing and insights.

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“The strong performance on Thanksgiving and Black Friday bode well for Cyber Monday, which we expect to easily surpass $3 billion in desktop spending and reach $4.5 billion in overall digital sales (including mobile sales) to become the leading online spending day for the eighth consecutive year, as people continue their holiday gift buying at work–away from the prying eyes of their families,” Lipsman said Monday.

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