Cyber Monday sales were down, but overall holiday spending is up nearly 12 percent

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Shoppers in the US spent a total of $10.7 billion during Cyber Monday, making it the biggest online shopping day of the year thus far. During the peak hour of 8 pm – 9 pm Pacific, consumers spent an average of $12 million every minute.

Impressive as it sounds, the figure is actually down 1.4 percent compared to 2020.

Top sellers on Cyber Monday included toys, video games and electronics, a category that includes game consoles.

Cyber Week, which runs from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, managed to generate $33.9 billion in online spending. Again, that’s down 1.4 percent year over year.

Taylor Schreiner, director at Adobe Digital Insights, said with early deals in October, consumers did not wait around for discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “This was further fueled by growing awareness of supply chain challenges and product availability,” Schreiner added.

Indeed, the prevalence of out-of-stock messages was up 258 percent in November compared to two holiday seasons ago (November 2019).

The holiday shopping season to date (November 1 to November 29) has seen consumers spend $109.8 billion online, up nearly 12 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Buyers have also set a new milestone, as 22 of those days have exceeded $3 billion in online spend. Last year, only nine days managed to top the $3 billion mark at this point.

Looking ahead, Adobe expects full season (November 1 to December 31) to reach $207 billion. Should the forecast come to fruition, it would represent 10 percent year-over-year growth.

Image credit Karolina Grabowska

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92451-cyber-monday-sales-down-but-overall-holiday-spending.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I bought a Samsung oven from Home Depot and tickets to Maldives on Emirates Business Class. I'm not sure if "travel" purchases are counted or if they only tally electronics... Malls were PACKED tho aside from people shopping online.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

It doesn't sound like an increase in sales to me if it's expected to be 10% YoY.

The cost of things have jumped significantly over the past 12 months - everything from groceries to consumer electronics.

* "Chip shortages" have caused companies to raise prices up roughly 10% from what I can see.
* "Labor shortages" have caused a lull in the supply chain which has slowed down access to everything from raw materials to finished products. (there is no shortage of labor, you have a labor force refusing to work at prices, even if they're being offered $18+/hour)
* Gas hikes over the past year means it costs more to ship, therefore the added costs to ship have to be absorbed on the backend by the consumer when they purchase the finished product.

*Grocery prices have moved up, upwards of 60+% that I've seen on items.
Here are some examples:
1) Baked goods at the local grocery store I go to, 4 pack of bakery made muffins used to be $3.49 at the start of 2021. The price went to $3.99 about 5-6 months ago and just recently the price went to $4.29. That's a 23% price increase in 12 months.
2) A certain kind of sandwich meat I like used to sell for $0.79 an ounce, now sells for $1.29 an ounce. That's a 63% price increase in 12 months.
3) Bread the family likes used to be $2.79 a loaf, it is now priced $3.49. That's a 25% price increase in 12 months.
4) yoplait yogurt - 6 ounce containers - used to go 5 for $3. Now it's 5 for $4. That's a 25% price increase
5) Celery, a stalk used to go for $0.99. Now they go for $1.29. That's a 30% price increase
See where I'm going here? Every item I buy has gone up at least 25% in the past year. I used to spend around $200 a trip, now it's easily $250.
A bit of simple math:
1 trip every 2 weeks to the grocery store means 26 trips a year. 26 x $200 = $5,200 last year.
This year, if it's a 25% price increase over last year means: 26 trips x $250 = $6,500. That's an extra $1300 this year I've put towards groceries for a family of 4.

To me it sounds like sales are down, but with the spike in prices due to inflation, it is projected to look sales will still be 10% more YoY.

I'm not buying more this year, I'm spending more on the same stuff. There is a difference.

 

[Dimitrios]

With our poor economy high prices & gas and future looking grim I was going to buy a curved monitor since my ELEMENT brand I bought from WALMART few years back is pure garbage. Runs hot and has that ghosting/bleeding issue.

With friends/family they even admitted to not buying anything because they are worried for the same issues I stated above. I'm embarrassed to say this but for the first time In my life I'm afraid what the future holds in my country.