Dive Brief:
- Ahead of predicted holiday retail sales growth, consumers drove $76.8 billion in online sales in October, up $4.3 billion from last year, according to a new report from Adobe Analytics.
- Mobile shopping spiked 46.7% year over year to $35.9 billion. Buy now, pay later transactions also saw a 6% jump from last year to $6.4 billion for the month.
- Online prices declined 6% compared to October 2022, marking the 14th consecutive month of online price decreases. Curbside pickup orders comprised 18% of online fulfillment, a slight increase from 17% a year prior.
Dive Insight:
Adobe’s research indicates that retailers have been offering discounts to attract budget-conscious consumers. Among the categories that Adobe tracks, during the month of October apparel saw the highest discounts at 12%, followed by electronics (9%), sporting goods (7%), appliances (6%), toys (5%) and home furniture (5%).
“We continue to experience a challenging economic picture, where increasing costs for consumers has been seen across rising interest rates, inflation in food prices, resuming student loan repayments, and more,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement. “Despite the uncertainty in the macro-environment, Adobe Analytics data has shown that the consumer remains resilient heading into the big holiday season, and are embracing every opportunity to manage their budgets in more efficient ways.”
Adobe anticipates Cyber Week will have the best deals during the holiday season, with the deepest discounts expected to take place during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Though consumers spent 5.9% more online in October than last year, the e-commerce growth rate in November and December is expected to be slightly lower. Adobe Analytics released a report last month predicting that online sales would reach $221.8 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, up 4.8% from last year. Retailers are expected to offer even steeper discounts during this period, such as up to 35% off for toys, 30% off electronics and 25% off apparel, according to Adobe.
Meanwhile, other reports suggest that overall retail sales growth will be minimal this year, but e-commerce could see greater gains. A September report from Deloitte predicted that online sales could grow between 10.3% and 12.8% from the year prior.
Last year, Adobe Analytics found that shoppers spent $72.2 billion online in October — roughly in line with what was spent online in the same month in 2021.
