Is Black Friday sales in the US all about price increases? How much is the real demand?

It is learned that due to macroeconomic pressures such as inflation and the threat of recession, retailers have lowered their expectations for holiday shopping this year. However, according to data released by Adobe Analytics, a record 196.7 million American consumers participated in holiday shopping this year.

Data shows that compared with 2021, sales on every day of the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday period showed year-on-year growth, with Black Friday having the highest increase of 3.9%, Cyber ​​Monday increasing by 3.8% year-on-year, and Thanksgiving increasing by just under 2%.

At the same time, many have questioned whether this was driven by rising prices due to inflation, but according to new research from Feedvisor, inflation was only one of the factors driving retail sales figures over the past few months and was not the primary driver of record sales figures during Cyber ​​Week.

Research shows that special deals and promotions were the main drivers of Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday sales growth as American consumers sought low-priced goods. According to Adobe Analytics, it was the overall transaction volume, not the higher price levels, that led to such high sales levels.

Cyber ​​Monday sales data shows that U.S. consumers spent $12.8 million per minute, however, the average shopping basket size only increased by 8%. According to NRF data, the average customer shopping basket size (the total amount of goods in the shopping cart at checkout) during Black Friday Cyber ​​Monday was about $325.44.

Discounts are the strongest since the pandemic, especially in the electronics category, where discounts have reached 25%. In 2021, the average discount on electronics was about 8%. The category with the highest discount rate this year is toys, with the highest discount reaching 34%.

In a press release, Amazon revealed their best-selling categories, with toys being the top five selling category. It was followed by home, fashion, beauty, and Amazon devices categories.

Feedvisor customer sales showed an increase in sales compared to 2021, with the top categories similar to Amazon. Toys, electronics, apparel, jewelry, and sporting goods were the biggest sellers during the five days. The electronics category saw the largest increase in sales compared to 2021, with an astonishing 2.5 times increase.

Research shows that e-commerce merchants increased their ad spending by about 30% during Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday compared to 2021. This is not only due to increased fees and competition, but also due to expected increased spending based on Prime Day data and more promotional activities.

The top 5 categories also saw an increase in advertising sales of around 32% due to increased advertising spend, but showed a sluggish RoAS, likely due to more transactional promotions.

Another bright spot is that CPCs for the top five categories have decreased compared to 2021. Thanksgiving Day showed the lowest CPC, and the day with the highest CPC was Cyber ​​Monday.

As ad spending increases, ad impressions (CPMs) are also rising this year, giving consumers more choices than ever before. Compared to 2021, CPMs are relatively flat, with an average increase of 2% across categories.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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