Online Sales Drove a Strong Start to the Holiday Shopping Season | Global News Avenue

Retailers are doing brisk business at the start of the holiday season, and consumers are particularly active in online spending.

Beats headphones, Samsung TVs, Barbie dolls and Play-doh have been hot items on Amazon (Amazon), the company said. According to Adobe, online shoppers are also keen on purchasing Harry Potter toys, Lego sets, Mario Kart 8 and Legend of Zelda games, as well as computers, digital cameras, electric scooters and bicycles.Adebe).

This encourages up nearly 15% Adobe said Black Friday online spending totaled $10.8 billion. Adobe said Tuesday that Americans spent another $10.9 billion over the holiday weekend and $13.3 billion on Cyber ​​Monday. Sold on Amazon record numbers The company said that during the holiday promotion period, which ran from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2, merchandise volume increased and revenue was higher than in previous years.

“The early discounts were deep enough that many consumers hit the buy button early during Cyber ​​Week, and Cyber ​​Monday became the biggest shopper,” said Vivek Pandya, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Insights ‘Last chance’ to take advantage of big holiday deals.”

According to the National Retail Federation, more consumers may check out online each day between Thanksgiving and Cyber ​​Monday (excluding Saturday) than in-person. On-site sales on Black Friday increased less than 1% year over year, while store traffic dropped about 3.2%, according to data from Mastercard and RetailNext, a company that tracks foot traffic. RetailNext said cold weather, especially in the Midwest, may be keeping some shoppers at home.

High-income households drive online sales

Households making six figures a year are “significantly” more likely to shop online, NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said Tuesday. The federation said surveys show about 60% of people say they shop online during the holidays, compared with 40% of households earning less than $50,000 a year.

According to Adobe, a record number of people used the Buy Now Pay Later tool on Cyber ​​Monday. Max Levchin, CEO of BNPL provider Affirm (AFRM), on Tuesday CNBC interview High spending was cited in categories such as apparel, furniture, homewares and consumer electronics.

NRF said lower-income consumers may shop more in person because they rely more on cash and debit cards, want to avoid shipping and return fees, seek deals rather than just gifts, and prefer to check out expensive items.

Shea said the preliminary data likely underestimates the number of people still shopping in person because wealthier Americans spend more online than others spend in stores. “People are really out shopping,” he said.

The discounts aren’t particularly big at the start of the holiday season. Analysts at JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank said most retailers were cutting prices similar to last year or to a smaller extent.

Since many retailers in recent years have begun launching seasonal sales in late October or early November, the incentive to organize holiday shopping around Black Friday has also diminished.

The expenditure for the whole season is expected to be strongNRF predicts sales will increase by 2.5% to 3.5% from last year’s US$955 billion.