Black Friday (BF) sales continue to attract shoppers en masse, despite inflation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has raised the cost of living, according to new research from Adobe (Opens in a new tab) And the sales force (Opens in a new tab).
As I mentioned Degenomeca (Opens in a new tab)Sales at physical stores may rise as Wal-Mart reported in the first quarter of 2022 that e-commerce growth had slowed to less than 1%, but economic pressures had little impact on online Black Friday sales, with Adobe claiming that Americans spent $9.12 billion online on Black Friday in 2022 alone, up 2.3% from 2021.
Salesforce, meanwhile, Claims (Opens in a new tab) The fact that wages do not rise with inflation negatively affects the number of products that people buy. The current average order is 3.5 pieces, down 2% year-on-year. Despite this, the average order value increased by 0.6% year-on-year.
International Black Friday Impact
The company also claims that price differences in the US have directly affected popular gift categories, with the cost of electronic items up 34% this year, and beauty products seeing prices drop 15% on average.
While Adobe’s data exclusively covers spending habits in the US during the holiday season, Salesforce is able to provide a global picture that suggests Black Friday may not have as much traction internationally.
Black Friday sales globally were up three percent year-on-year in 2022, but parts of Europe were less impressed, with online Black Friday revenue in the UK and Ireland down 13 percent, and order numbers down 11 percent.
TechRadar Pro newly mentionedAccording to delivery management company nShift, UK parcel deliveries in 2022 increased by 8% on Black Friday and 30% on Cyber Monday.
Looking at Salesforce data, this appears to be a reflection of the situation in the US, where shoppers buy more but spend less.
The European picture isn’t quite as clear either, with Salesforce reporting online revenue from Germany down 12%, and order numbers down 15%.
However, Nshift reports that package deliveries in Denmark, for example, saw a 126% increase, Finland up 58%, and several other countries saw similar rises. While revenue data for these countries was not available, it is clear that not every European is willing to part with a deal.
Salesforce found that Australians and New Zealanders felt the same, with revenue falling there by just 1%, while orders placed increased by 3%. Meanwhile, Japan saw the biggest drop in growth, with online sales down 34% and orders placed down 17% compared to 2021.
It’s possible that the sporadic enthusiasm for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals outside the US isn’t because the rest of the world is tired of imported consumption, but is taking a more conservative approach to the unique financial challenges of the moment, perhaps because Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.
Companies, too, may have decided to streamline their technology stack rather than invest in new server infrastructure, for example.
