When Americans started celebrating Thanksgiving in the 19th century, it was about cherishing the blessings of the year, particularly the year’s harvest. These days, however, it appears as if many people spend the holiday thinking about what they might need rather than what they already have. They are predicted to splash out nearly $8 billion for Thanksgiving.

Over the past few years, Thanksgiving weekend has grown to become a huge shopping extravaganza both on- and offline. Retailers try to outdo each other in offering the best Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals and consumers willingly jump at the chance to kick off their holiday shopping and snap up some bargains.

Not surprisingly, this year’s Thanksgiving weekend is expected to shatter online shopping records once again. According to Adobe Digital Insights, total e-commerce sales over the entire Thanksgiving weekend are forecast at $23.4 billion, with Cyber Monday tipped to become the largest online shopping day in U.S. history.

source: statista