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Early deals could push online sales to a record $189 billion this holiday season

Adobe expects cyber week to turn into cyber month this year.

Carrie Mihalcik Former Managing Editor / News
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The holidays will look different for many people this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, including the way we shop for gifts. Online sales during the holiday shopping season, which runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, are expected to grow 33% year over year to a record-breaking $189 billion in the US, according to a forecast from Adobe Analytics released Wednesday. 

Among its predictions, Adobe expects deals to extend beyond the traditional Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday shopping week, often called cyber week, turning November and December into "cyber months."

"As retailers adapt to consumers' new behaviors in this pandemic, we expect earlier discounts, more shipping and pick-up options and uncertainty around in-store purchases to drive this year's online holiday sales to record highs," said John Copeland, head of Adobe marketing and customer insights, in a release. "This year is unlike any in the past, and for the first time we are no longer referring to peak holiday sales as Cyber Week -- it's now Cyber Month."

Despite holiday sales starting earlier this year, Adobe still expects Cyber Monday to remain the biggest online shopping day of the year, jumping 35% over last year to $12.7 billion. People are also expected to spend $28.1 billion more on phones than they did in 2019, accounting for 42% of all online sales during the holiday shopping season. 

Among the most anticipated gifts this holiday season are the upcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X game consoles, as well as the Nintendo Switch . Adobe also expects Star Wars toys and Lego sets to be hot items this holiday season.