cyber monday will likely be the biggest online shopping day of the year however it could fall short of the final tally in 2020 the news comes from an adobe adbe forecast that predicted between 102 billion and 113 billion after sales of 108 billion last year this forecast came after black friday sales fell when compared to last year finishing at 89 billion after 90 billion in sales in 2020 sales on thanksgiving day were flat at 51 billion see black friday ecommerce sales expected to approach 9 billion even as the power of major shopping days falls adobe attributed the declines to strong sales early in the season from nov 1 through nov 28 retailers rang up 991 billion in purchases up 136 yearoveryear “online sales on big shopping days like thanksgiving and black friday are decreasing for the first time in history” said taylor schreiner adobe digital insights director in a statement “with 21 days in november driving over 3 billion in spend what we know is cyber week is starting to look more like cyber month” another new development is the decline in cyber monday promotions televisions are still the best deal according to adobe with discounts of about 16 though prices were down 19 last year supply chain problems persist with adobe reporting that outofstock messages were up 16 compared with the weekend of nov 20 and nov 21 but shelves were not as bare as anticipated “in speaking with customers i would say expectations were very low and there was a sense that stores were in better shape than predicted” said david ritter managing director in the consumer and retail group at alvarez  marsal in a statement alvarez  marsal is a professionalservices consulting firm “there were certain categories that seemed in worse shape than others electronics pet and apparel all had significant outofstocks in select stores” also remember layaway now there’s buy now pay later but these plans can be ‘deceptive and abusive’ and prey on struggling consumers even if things weren’t as bad as expected over the weekend ritter suggested that customers get items on their lists quickly “one interesting note in many of the stores i visited staff indicated that all product had been pushed to the floor in a ‘get it while we have it’ approach that could hint at impending issues later in the holiday season” ritter said sensormatic solutions data found that trips to stores were still down 283 compared with 2019 though shoppers were heading back to brickandmortar in an effort to bypass problems that could arise from having orders delivered “one driver of this increased traffic could be ongoing supply chain challenges and shipping delays which are resulting in consumers shopping earlier to ensure their gifts arrive on time” said brian field senior director of global retail consulting sensormatic solutions in a statement sensormatic solutions is part of johnson controls jci  which is focused on security sustainability automation and more in buildings field expected customers to use the full range of services including buyonlinepickupinstore to get presents under the tree by dec 25 on nov 27 and nov 28 use of buyonlinepickupinstore services was down 10 from last year “an indication that consumers are feeling more confident about their spending capabilities” adobe noted the spdr sp retail etf xrt has run up nearly 52 for the year to date the amplify online retail etf ibuy is down 107 and the sp 500 index spx has gained 235 for the period