Online consumer spending in the United States during the holiday shopping season from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 was weaker than expected according to Jan. 12 data from Adobe Analytics.
Adobe covered more than one trillion visits to U.S. retail websites in its analysis.Continuing pandemic-related issues such as the supply chain crisis, rising inflation, a labor crisis, and government vaccine mandates have caused global product shortages and delayed deliveries.
The shortages have reduced global and U.S. holiday inventory by 2 percent, according to data from Salesforce.Though American consumers spent a record $204.5 billion online over the 2021 holiday season, an increase of 8.6 percent from a year earlier, the figure was lower than the $207 billion predicted by Adobe.
In late October, Adobe had optimistically predicted sales growth of 5 to 15 percent.The numbers marked the smallest rise in holiday online consumer activity since the software company started tracking holiday spending data in 2014.
Cyber Week, the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, was also a disappointment for online retailers, with consumer spending dropping 1.4 percent.
“This holiday shopping season was the first time where big promotional moments like Cyber Monday and Black Friday took on less of the spotlight,” Taylor Schreiner, senior director of Adobe Digital Insights, told Forbes.
“Like we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce has become a ubiquitous daily activity and a flexible way for shoppers to navigate product availability and higher prices,” he said.Prices were slightly higher by 3 percent from a year ago, but in inflation-adjusted terms, was closer to 5 percent, said Schreiner.
