This year, US consumers spent less money online during Black Friday than usual. In fact, American consumers spent about $8.9 billion on Black Friday sales, which is slightly less than last year (approximately $9 billion).
In addition to that, many shoppers returned to in-store shopping due to the shop’s reopening after Thanksgiving Day. As a result, in-store visits increased by 47.5% compared to last year. However, the numbers were still low compared to 2019; namely, in-store shopping fell by 28.3%.
Though, what was the reason online sales went down this year?
Well, shipping delays and other supply-chain challenges, for starters. Likewise, many shoppers changed their strategy; 61% started buying holiday gifts before Thanksgiving.
Hence, many businesses changed their shopping tactics, as well.
For example, Walmart, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Target gave shoppers the chance to order their goods online, in stores, or through other hybrid methods.
And what about Cyber Monday?
According to Adobe, this year’s sales are predicted to reach between $10.2 billion and $11.3 billion, surpassing the Black Friday sales.
Interestingly, in 2019, Black Friday sales overrode Cyber Monday sales for the first time ever. In other words, 93.2 million Americans shopped online during Black Friday vs. 83.3 million who shopped during Cyber Monday.
