Retailers’ days could be especially bright this holiday season, as online sales are expected to hit $100 billion for the first time ever, Adobe Chairman, President and CEO Shantanu Narayen told CNBC.
“We think it’ll be the first $100 billion, online, digital season ever,” Narayen told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer in a Tuesday interview. “We announced that mobile will actually cross the PC in terms of where all of these transactions are happening.”
Adobe announced these predictions on Monday in its annual, holiday-season Digital Insights report. Last year, online holiday sales reached $91.7 billion, topping Adobe’s initial estimates.
Adobe also expects this year’s Cyber Monday — the Monday after Thanksgiving during which retailers offer deep discounts on online purchases — to be the biggest online shopping day ever.
“Cyber Monday is expected to become the largest online shopping day in history, generating $6.6 billion in sales, 16.5 percent growth compared to last year,” the press release said.
The National Retail Federation expects overall holiday sales to rise by as much as 4 percent this year, topping $680 billion. The NRF predicts that non-store sales, which include online and kiosk sales, will increase by up to 15 percent to approximately $140 billion.
Helping businesses large and small adapt to the era of digital engagement is one of Adobe’s key priorities, Narayen said.
“Digital is the key touchpoint in terms of building a new business and disrupting existing businesses,” the CEO said. “Whether it’s travel and hospitality, whether it’s airlines, whether it’s retail, whether it’s education, digital’s going to transform the business.”
Narayen added that products like Adobe Sensei, the company’s artificial-intelligence-enabled application, are helping its clients digitize their offerings to take advantage of new trends.
“What is happening on the business side is, when you’re McDonald’s, you’re moving all of the screens to now be digital so you can order online and with a mobile device. If you’re Mastercard, you’re completely transforming how you look at all the information that you’ve got,” Narayen said. “And making that power and harnessing that power with Adobe Sensei and the data that we possess, I think it’s going to be a unique advantage for us.”
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Source: Tech CNBC
Adobe CEO says holiday season to hit 0 billion in online sales, mostly via mobile