According to Adobe Analytics data, the 2022 holiday shopping season is estimated to be the biggest to date! Initial reports indicate consumers spent a record $5.29B online, on Thanksgiving Day alone! A 2.9% increase year-over-year (YoY). Shoppers were enticed by big discounts in the toys and electronics categories.

Online Black Friday sales in the United States topped a record-breaking $9.12 billion this year, according to Adobe Analytics, kicking off a solid start to the holiday shopping season despite inflation and other economic concerns.

Adobe, which tracks sales on retailer websites, said that this year’s Black Friday online sales increased 2.3% YoY, with electronics, smart home equipment, toys and exercise equipment providing the biggest boost. While some of the growth reflects higher prices and not higher volume, since the firm’s figures aren’t adjusted for inflation, Adobe estimates sales would have been higher even if inflation were factored in.

Mobile shopping drove an estimated 55% of online sales (up 8.3 percent YoY), a record for Thanksgiving Day since 2012! In the days leading up to the holiday, from November 1-24, consumers had already spent $77.74 billion online. And Black Friday is expected to have generated $9 billion in e-commerce sales.

“Mobile shopping had struggled to grow for many years, as consumers found the experience lacking compared to desktop,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “Thanksgiving this year has become an inflection point, where smartphones drove real growth and highlights how much these experiences have improved.”

Meanwhile, in store shopping was reportedly sluggish. While shoppers were expected to turn out in record numbers to shop for Black Friday deals, thin crowds were seen outside stores on what has historically been the busiest shopping day of the year.

Adding to the strength of the 2022 holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday was expected to be the biggest shopping day of 2022, netting retailers between $11.2 billion and $11.6 billion. 

Additional Sources:
https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/consumers-spend-a-record-5-29b-online-on-thanksgiving-day
https://www.mytotalretail.com/article/foot-traffic-slow-to-build-on-black-friday
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/28/business/black-friday-sales-numbers/index.html
https://fortune.com/2022/11/28/black-friday-cyber-monday-deals-consumer-shopper-debt