The 2023 holiday shopping season proved to be another record-breaking period for online sales and even saw more shoppers visiting brick-and-mortar stores compared to last year. During the 7-day Cyber Week period, from Tuesday, November 21 to Monday, November 27, U.S. sales reached $70.8 billion, increasing 5% YOY.
Growth was driven primarily by order volume, rather than inflation, signaling increased consumer demand for the first time in more than five quarters. Some other contributing factors to this year's record-breaking revenue include earlier sales promotions, AI-enhanced campaigns, increased discounts, and stronger eCommerce sales. Adobe predicts the full holiday season (November 1 to December 31) will hit $221.8 billion, growing 4.8% YOY.
Without specifying numbers, Amazon reported that its 11-day shopping event from November 17 to November 27 was its largest yet - driving customers around the world to purchase over 1 billion items. Also reported, was that Amazon had the highest traffic of any retailer site during the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
Black Friday
Adobe reported that this year's Black Friday online sales produced a record $9.8 billion, up 7.5% from 2022. Online sales for 2023's Black Friday have yet again eclipsed Cyber Monday's numbers showing a 9% increase versus 3% for Cyber Monday—a trend that Salesforce identified back in 2019. Alongside online growth, physical retail store traffic increased 1.5% for the Black Friday weekend.
Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday eCommerce spending in the U.S. totaled $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year-over-year. A record-breaking 79% of Cyber Week eCommerce traffic was on mobile phones, up from 76% in 2022. Given this, social traffic on mobile was a critical acquisition channel – representing 10% of all referrals to retailer websites. Also, according to Adobe Analytics, Buy Now Pay Later usage hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, with a staggering increase of 42.5% compared to 2022.
With 2023's substantial year-over-year growth and today's contemporary retail landscape, the trend of the single-day shopping frenzy experience has now shifted to an extended week-long experience. Exclusive online deals and highly personalized experiences encourage customers to partake in lengthy promotions, and with this new trend comes the return of the engaged holiday shopper.