Tag Archives: Cyber Monday

‘Tis the Season to Shop (Online with Your Phone)

Consumerism,

Shopping this holiday season is doing very well, thank you, with a bit of a boost from our ubiquitous cellular devices, especially our phones. Last Saturday, the weekend after Thanksgiving, saw $3.6 billion in sales for small businesses in one day alone, from cellphones.


According to Adobe Analytics, a tracker of sales online, that figure is higher by a generous 18% over last year. And if things keep going the way they have been, Adobe says we can expect almost 15% growth over last year’s holiday season sales. Small businesses alone earned $68.2 billion in November of this year.

Purchases as easy as pressing a button. Photo courtesy of Ri Buto


Smartphone sales are way up, says Adobe. Last Saturday smartphone revenue accounted for 41.2% of all e-commerce revenue that day. That represents growth of 22% since 2018.
So, what are people buying like hotcakes this year? Some of the top-selling products include “Frozen 2” companion toys to go with the Disney movie recently released. “Madden 20” and “FIFA 20” video games, of course, and more devices like Amazon Fire TV and Apple AirPods.


What can we expect from Cyber Monday? Adobe says we can anticipate a record-breaking $9.4 billion in online sales, an ecstatic increase of 19% since 2018.

Disappointed Retailers Lamenting Poor Black Friday Performance

Consumerism, ,

Crowd Outside Macy's on Black Friday 2013
Crowd Outside Macy’s on Black Friday 2013

For the first time in seven years post-Thanksgiving Day weekend, pre-holiday retail sales dropped in what analysts say is a reflection of lack of confidence by consumers in the US economy and wages that are going nowhere.

Black Friday sales were only able to reach $57.4 billion for the weekend, about $1.7 billion short of Black Friday sales for 2012. The average shopper spent $407.02 this year, compared to $423.55 last year.

ShopperTrak, a market research company, says that, despite many stores being open on Thursday, including Macy’s for the first time, actual foot traffic to stores was down by 11 percent while sales fell by 13 percent on Thursday.

Now retailers have set their sights on Cyber Monday, the big online shopping day, hoping that shopping on that day will make up for the anemic shopping on Thursday.

“We expect Cyber Monday to be bigger than ever,” said National Retail Federation’s Matthew Shay.