• Adobe Analytics data reveals record holiday season spending – Cyber Week drove $35.3 billion as discounts surged across categories including toys, electronics, computers, televisions, and apparel
• As online spending picked up, consumers sought greater payment flexibility, with Buy Now Pay Later service revenue rising 88 percent
• Mobile shopping hit new highs, contributing a record 55% of online sales during Thanksgiving and remaining strong throughout Cyber Week

SAN JOSE, Calif. — November 29, 2022 — Today, Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) released online shopping data for the 2022 holiday season, covering Cyber Week – the shopping period including Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing commerce transactions online, covering over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Adobe Analytics is part of Adobe Experience Cloud, relied upon by over 85% of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S.* to deliver, measure and personalize shopping experiences online.

Consumers spent a record total of $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday, representing 5.8% growth year-over-year (YoY). As the biggest online shopping day of the season, year, and of all time, this year’s Cyber Monday saw consumers spend $12.8 million every minute during the peak hour, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Across Cyber Week, consumers spent a total of $35.3 billion, up 4% YoY, bolstered by record online spending during Black Friday ($9.12 billion, up 2.3% YoY) and Thanksgiving ($5.29 billion, up 2.9% YoY), reflecting consumer uptake of big discounts across numerous categories.

The 2022 holiday season is off to a strong start: consumers have already spent $107.7 billion online through November 28, up 8.7% YoY. Earlier and more frequent discounts have enabled eight days to exceed $2 billion in daily online spending, with 20 days topping $3 billion. Adobe expects spending for the full holiday season (November 1 to December 31) to hit $210.1 billion, growing 2.75% YoY.

E-commerce categories driving growth

On Cyber Monday, record spending was driven by toys, where online sales grew 684% compared to an average day in October 2022, as well as perennial favorites including electronics (up 391%) and computers (up 372%). Other categories with strong demand included sporting goods (up 466%), appliances (up 458%), books (up 439%) and jewelry (up 410%).

Top sellers on Cyber Monday included Pokémon cards, Legos, Hot Wheels, Disney Encanto, LOL Surprise dolls, CoComelon and Hatchimals in toys. Top gaming consoles included PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X, while top games included FIFA 23, God of War Ragnarök, Madden 23, NBA 2K23 and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Other top sellers on Cyber Monday were smart TVs, Apple AirPods, Apple MacBooks, tablets, smart watches, Instant Pots and air fryers.

“With oversupply and a softening consumer spending environment, retailers made the right call this season to drive demand through heavy discounting,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “It spurred online spending to levels that were higher than expected, and reinforced e-commerce as a major channel to drive volume and capture consumer interest."   

Additional Adobe Analytics Insights

• Discounts hit record highs: On Cyber Monday, consumers found great deals in electronics, where discounts peaked at 25% off listed price (vs. 8% in 2021). Discounts were strong across all categories tracked by Adobe, including toys at 34% off (vs. 19%), computers at 20% off (vs. 10%), televisions at 17% off (vs. 11%), apparel at 18% off (vs. 13%), sporting goods at 10% off (vs. 6%), furniture at 8% off (vs. 2%) and appliances at 16% off (vs. 4%).
• Mobile shopping regained the spotlight: Thanksgiving set a new mobile record this year, with 55% of online sales coming via smartphones (up from 51% in 2021). Mobile shopping remained strong during Cyber Week, for the first time driving the majority of sales at 51% overall (up from 46%), while Cyber Monday came in at 43% (up from 40%). The strong growth is a testament to how much mobile shopping has improved in recent months, with retailers investing in the experience.
• Buy Now Pay Later provided consumers flexibility: In an uncertain economic environment, shoppers embraced new ways to manage their budgets. During Cyber Week, Buy now, pay later orders rose 85% and revenue increased 88%, compared with the prior week.   
• Curbside pickup was utilized less this year: As more shoppers returned to physical stores, usage of curbside pickup remained modest during Cyber Week. The fulfillment method was used in 13% of online orders on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday (for retailers offering the service), down from 21% in the prior year. On Cyber Monday, curbside pickup was used in 17% of online orders, down from 18% in 2021.   
• Impact of marketing investments: Across major marketing channels, paid search remained the biggest driver of sales for retailers across Cyber Week (28% of online sales). Direct (18%), affiliates/partners (18%), email (17%) and organic search (15%) were also major contributors. Revenue directly attributable to social media remained at less than 5% of total sales during Cyber Week, but that share has grown 27% YoY.   

The impact of inflation   

Strong consumer spending across Cyber Week was driven by net-new demand, not just higher prices. The Adobe Digital Price Index (DPI), which tracks e-commerce prices across 18 categories, shows that prices online have been nearly flat in recent months (down 0.7% YoY in October 2022). Adobe figures are not adjusted for inflation, but there would still be growth in underlying consumer demand even if online inflation was factored in.

About Adobe

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*Per the Digital Commerce 360 Top 500 report (2021)

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Kevin Fu
Adobe
kfu@adobe.com