Businesses report higher-than-expected online sales on Black Friday amid inflation and high product costs.
According to estimates, sales totaled $9.12 billion. This year’s Black Friday sales are the biggest since the pandemic began. Businesses made over $8.92 billion in sales on Black Friday last year, and institutions will make $9.03 billion in sales in 2020.
According to Adobe Analytics, the increase in overall sales was caused by the increased costs customers had to pay for essential services or commodities during the holidays.
According to Adobe, orders and purchases of Apple MacBooks and watches increased significantly. These make for a sizable portion of Friday’s 221% increase in online electronic sales. Xbox Series X, drones, FIFA 23 and Pokemon Scarlet games are also widely purchased.
Adobe anticipates that many deals will be available over the weekend and the following days. Furthermore, they anticipate that individuals will spend an additional $8 billion on Saturday and Sunday.
“While there is much speculation about inflation’s impact on consumer behavior, our data tells us that this Thanksgiving holiday weekend will see robust store traffic with a record number of shoppers taking advantage of value pricing,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.
“We are optimistic that retail sales will remain strong in the weeks ahead, and retailers are ready to meet consumers however they want to shop with great products at prices they want to pay,” he added.
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Lesser Black Friday spending
Before the holidays, experts projected that Americans would spend less. However, as seen by the data in the two years since the pandemic began, sales were low. And, with inflation looming over the holidays, many anticipate fewer store shoppers.
According to the National Retail Foundation, the economy influences how consumers spend. Over 60% of shoppers currently believe this way, according to the present trend. This is the most significant proportion since the 2008 Great Recession.
“Consumers want better prices, so they’re waiting on the sidelines. So it’s going to really boil down to whether the stores blink first or the retailers blink first,” said Krish Thyagarajan from DataWeave Analytics.
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Higher October spending
According to one business, while individuals plan for November and December spending, part of their spending migrated to October. However, as the holidays approached, retailers witnessed an increase in sales. This indicates that consumers were eager to spend more even if they had already spilled some of their money a month ago.
“While consumers continue to save the bulk of their holiday shopping for later in November and December, some of that spending has shifted into October. This year, 18% of holiday shoppers have completed at least half of their holiday shopping. While this is on par with last year, it is up from only 11% a decade ago,” said Phil Rist.
“An estimated 166.3 million people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. This figure is almost 8 million more people than last year. And is the highest estimate since NRF began tracking this data in 2017,” said the NRF in a statement.
Photo Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis
Source: NPR
