Adobe: U.S. shoppers to spend record $9.12 billion online on Black Friday in 2022

Data released after the Black Friday holiday showed that consumers' willingness to spend was not suppressed by rising inflation. It was reported that while traffic to shopping malls may be less than expected, online shopping traffic remained strong. According to Adobe Analytics, US consumers spent a record $9.12 billion on online sales on Black Friday.

The record sales figures come as many major retailers are offering deep discounts as retailers such as Target and Kohl's (KSS.US) are dealing with huge inventory levels. It is understood that due to inventory issues, many retailers are pursuing discounts earlier than ever before.

The data showed that online sales grew 2.3% year-on-year, more than double what the analytics provider had expected. In addition, Cyber ​​Monday sales are expected to surpass Black Friday’s performance, bolstering the strength of the e-commerce industry.

It is worth mentioning that Adobe's strong data added icing on the cake to Shopify's (SHOP.US) positive report. In a report released on Saturday morning, the Canadian e-commerce company said that consumers spent $3.36 billion on this major shopping holiday, a year-on-year increase of 17%. According to Shopify's data, apparel, beauty, home and garden categories had the best sales, with an average shopping cart value of about $102.31.

Are physical store sales overestimated?

The strong momentum of e-commerce has exceeded the expectations of data providers such as SpendingPulse, a subsidiary of Mastercard (MA.US), which reportedly expected that in the post-epidemic environment, physical store sales will exceed online sales, that is, overall sales on Black Friday will increase by 15%, and physical store retail sales will increase by 18%.

Among them, department stores such as Macy's, Dillard's (DDS.US), Nordstrom (JWN.US) and Kohl's are expected to be the main driving factors, with sales expected to increase by more than 25% over the same period last year due to the return of physical store shoppers seeking the above-mentioned discounts.

"While retailers have already discounted heavily this season, consumers and retailers are likely to be waiting for some special offers on the biggest sale day of the year," commented Steve Sadove, senior advisor at Mastercard.

However, actual results showed a 12% increase in physical store sales and a 14% increase in e-commerce sales, both below initial expectations, with clothing sales seen as a particular strong point for bargain-hunting consumers.

“With holiday promotions starting well before Thanksgiving weekend, consumers have been strategically shopping for the season’s best deals,” said Michelle Meyer, chief economist for North America at Mastercard Economics Institute. “Despite the challenging inflationary environment, retailers offered deals on Black Friday that enticed consumers to fill their shopping carts.”

According to data from SensorMatic Solutions, in-store traffic on Black Friday increased 2.9% compared to 2021, traffic in enclosed malls increased 1.2% year-over-year, and non-mall traffic increased 4.7% year-over-year.

Brian Field, head of global retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, said: "As we expected, Black Friday deals and in-store experiences attracted shoppers, resulting in high sales this year. The trend of shopping in open shopping malls has continued due to the epidemic, and shopping malls are recovering. Our data shows that consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of physical shopping."

However, in-store sales in 2021 were down 28.3% from 2019 levels. So enthusiasm for modest year-over-year improvements is somewhat muted in the broader context.

Big discounts drive sales growth

As for discounts enticing consumers to shop, Adobe data shows that despite inflationary pressures on consumers, deep discounts were indeed a key factor driving year-over-year sales growth. That is, sales of electronics and toys were snapped up by shoppers who couldn't resist a discount.

According to the National Retail Federation, toys such as American Girl and Mattel's (MAT.US) Barbie dolls are the top choice for girls. Meanwhile, video games such as Activision Blizzard's Modern Warfare II and game consoles such as Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation dominate boys' purchases. In addition, Roblox was also listed as the most popular game on Thanksgiving by Adobe, which noted that sales of the game during Thanksgiving also reached a record $5.29 billion.

According to ad technology company Captify, consumers are well aware of the rampant discounts in the retail space and are actively seeking out those deals. As a result, the choice of targeted locations is different than the previous year. The company said Walmart replaced Amazon as the most searched retailer for Black Friday deals. Meanwhile, Target and Kohl's both surpassed Amazon in search rankings.