With the holiday season just around the corner, the online retailers should get ready as online sales are expected to shatter records amid the COVID-19 pandemic lead lockdowns.

The latest report from US tech giant Adobe Analytics, predicts that online holiday season spending will reach $189 billion, representing 33 percent growth year-over-year (YoY). In fact, the data shows that the potential for online spending might go even higher to $200 billion (47 percent YoY growth), if the flu season keeps people out of stores.

“The holiday shopping season is starting earlier than ever this year, and we expect record online sales as many consumers opt to shop online to avoid stores because of the unknown around COVID-19,” says John Copeland, VP of marketing and customer insights at Adobe.

“This will place an even bigger emphasis on retailers’ customer intelligence and really understanding where customers are in their shopping journey — at the individual level — so that the experiences they get from your brand are personalized and contextually relevant this holiday season.”

Using Adobe Analytics, the annual report evaluates 1 trillion visits to U.S.-based retail websites. Analyzing product trends, pricing, transactions, as well as shipping and returns data, we predict online spend and other trends for November through the end of December 2020.

The upcoming season would also put pressure on the retailers as well and would need to understand where customers are in their shopping journey — at the individual level — so that the experiences they get from your brand are personalized and contextually relevant this holiday season.

“By offering free shipping and communicating cut-off dates, retailers have an opportunity to drive sales earlier in the season, helping to mitigate shipping issues,” Copeland said.