November 28, 2023
Inflation.
High interest rates.
Dwindling savings.
Forget all that we just want to shop. And we just broke records with the amount of money we spent this weekend. And we weren’t spending on necessities like food and shelter. We spent a record amount of money on stuff during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And no – it’s not because things cost more. It’s because demand was high and things were costing less with all the deep discounts. In fact – discounts were higher this year than last year.
That’s all according to a new report by Adobe Analytics. It found on Cyber Monday – we spent $12.4 billion that’s almost 9.6% more than last year. During the peak hour of Cyber Monday – between 10 and 11 pm eastern, consumers spent $15.7 million every single minute!
And on Black Friday – you guessed it. Another record-breaking spending day of $9.8 billion. That’s up 7.5% from last year.
The total for Cyber Week – which includes the five day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday totaled $38 billion that’s up 7.8% over last year. And sure – we saw lots of videos online of empty or near empty stores on Black Friday – but that’s because Adobe Analytics says we were all shopping online instead.
So what were we spending on? All kinds of things. But apparel saw a 189% increase in online sales when compared to October 2023 sales. We were also spending on appliances (up 166%), toys (up 140%), furniture (up 129%), electronics (up 103%), jewelry (up 99%) and sporting goods (up 95%).
But there’s one part of all this spending that could be a cause for concern. Shoppers spent $940 million using buy now pay later programs on Cyber Monday that’s more than 42.5% higher than last year and another all-time high. These aren’t credit cards. These are programs offered by retailers to buy now and pay later.
And here’s the thing – the shopping season isn’t over yet – shoppers typically wait until they’re about two weeks away from Christmas to start panic buying gifts.
You may be wondering what all this will do to interest rates? Well – the federal reserve will meet one more time in mid-December to decide whether all this spending we’re doing is complicating the inflation problem. And if they determine it is – they will raise interest rates again…or it’s possible they may just give us a break for one more month.
Read the report from Adobe Analytics here.
