Americans turned to shopping online on Monday to take advantage of sales on the Cyber Monday (“Cyber Monday”) at a time when high inflation has reduced their purchasing power.
Cyber Monday is estimated to be the biggest online sales day of the year with $11.6 billion in sales, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at more than 85 of the top 100 US stores.Last year sales topped 10.700 million.
Adobe’s figures are not adjusted for inflation, but the firm says demand is growing even when inflation is taken into account.
Some analysts agree that some numbers will be inflated by higher prices and that the number of items purchased could stay the same – even decrease – compared to previous years.
Profit margins could shrink as stores are offering generous sales to attract an inflation-conscious customer base and to shed bulging inventories.
Internet sales last Friday, dubbed Black Friday (“Black Friday”), amounted to $9.12 billion, an increase of 2.3% over last year, according to Adobe. Internet sales were robust over the weekend, for a total of 9.550 million dollars.
Salesforce, which also tracks spending, estimates that internet sales in the United States were $15 billion on Friday and 17,200 million during the weekend, with discounts of 30% on average. Among the top-selling items were electronics, sportswear, toys and beauty and health products, both firms said.
Meanwhile, consumers who feared leaving their homes and turned to shopping online during the pandemic are returning to stores.
The National Retail Federation said its most recent survey showed a 3% increase in the number of people planning to go to physical stores on Black Friday. It estimates that some 63.9 million consumers will shop online on Cyber Monday, compared to 77 million last year.