For the first time, online spending throughout “Black Friday” has dropped. According to a holiday shopping report from Adobe Analytics, online shoppers spent $8.9 billion this year. In comparison, online shoppers spent $9 billion in 2020. Adobe suggests that the slight dip in online spending is caused by the length of “Black Friday” sales. Recently, some stores have extended their “Black Friday” sales to run from October through late November.
“For the first time ever, Black Friday saw a reversal of the growth trend of past years,” said Vivek Pandya of Adobe said.
“Shoppers are being strategic in their gift shopping, buying much earlier in the season and being flexible about when they shop to make sure they get the best deals.”
Beyond the total amount of money spent, Adobe also noticed a change in how money was spent. According to their holiday shopping report, Adobe found that 44.4% of online spending was done through a smartphone, a 10.6% increase from 2020.
Also, Adobe reports that it has become more difficult for shoppers to find the products that they are looking for. The report found that out of stock messages have risen by 124% since January 2020.
