Online retail kicks off holiday season with record sales

Online retail sales set records on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s the conclusion of reports from Adobe Analytics and Salesforce, which differed on the exact amounts. 

U.S. Cyber Monday total online sales 

• Adobe: $11.3 billion — 5.8% increase from 2021
• Salesforce: $12.2 billion — 8% increase from 2021

U.S. Black Friday total online sales

• Adobe: $9.1 billion — 2.3% increase from 2021
• Salesforce $15 billion — 12% increase from 2021 

Total online U.S. sales from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday were $67.5 billion, a 9% increase from last year, according to Salesforce.

Dig deeper: Marketers need to be ‘always-on’ for holiday shopping

Why the different numbers. Adobe measures purchases at 85% of the top 100 U.S. internet retailers. Salesforce measures at 24 of the top 30 U.S. online retailers.

Reason for increased sales. Adobe said consumer demand, not just higher prices, was responsible for the increased spending. They based this on the fact that online sales were essentially flat for the three weeks prior to Black Friday. The company said this shows consumers have a strong appetite for holiday shopping even with uncertainty about the economy.

Discounts also likely helped. Salesforce reported the average discount was 30%, 7% higher than last year.  

Further proof. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all types of payments including cash and credit cards, said Black Friday overall sales rose 12% from a year earlier. Sales at physical stores increased 12%, while online sales were up 14%.

Why we care. Either God or the Devil is in the details, according to the old sayings. Thankfully, the details — from all sources — agree that consumer spending was up for Thanksgiving weekend. This is seen as a good omen for the rest of the holiday shopping season. While Adobe says this shows more consumer demand, other analysts say that once you account for inflation, sales were about the same as last year. However, retailers won’t complain if that’s the worst sales news this month.