We have a lot of data to pore over and the results for Cyber Week are mixed, but first, Retail Info Systems has an interesting take on how customers are shopping this season. This article details how consumers may be longing for a taste of traditional in-store Christmas shopping after purchasing online last year.
There is also the sentiment that it is less about key milestones like Black Friday and Cyber Monday and more about prolonged demand over the whole holiday season. Due to the supply chain shortages and some panic, early season buying served to kick off the buying season earlier this year.
As for the numbers, they look slightly less this year versus 2020 and online sales crept down 1.4% due to earlier shopping. That was a reversal of the pandemic-influenced sales last year when we saw an increase of 20.7% from 2019. In fact, Black Friday sales were down this year for the first time ever.
Digging into the data, we note that while a decline in sales for a touchstone day like Black Friday might appear to be worrisome, the overall trend to consumer preferences for online sales remains strong as spending in November increased 11.9% over last year for a total of $109,8B. another validation of consumers buying in advance due to supply chain shortages.
eCommerce brands should be confident that while revenue will not be as concentrated as in years past with the earlier buying season, it should be strong overall. For more detail on what consumers bought and when, you can review Adobe’s Digital Economy Index which analyzes direct consumer transactions online.
We will continue to report on holiday sales figures throughout December and we’ll have a wrap up in January.
Before we push the keyboard away, here is story about a brand that won’t die. In addition to small, branded outposts in Macy’s this season, Toys”R”Us will soon open a flagship store at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey. While beloved by children, the iconic retailer has been unable to adapt to the new retail landscape.
Will this flagship store see a resurgence or are we looking at a midmarket twist on the path that high-end toy retailer FAO Schwarz has taken? (Toys”R”Us once briefly owned the brand.) We will have to wait and see.
We welcome your thoughts, please contact us at marketing@freestylesolutions.com.
