Green shoots for holiday online spending

The pace of spending online in October remained unchanged compared with a year ago, underscoring the resiliency of shoppers despite inflation and other economic challenges, according to Adobe Analytics’ first set of sales data covering the 2022 holiday season. Shoppers spent $72.2 billion online last month, basically in line with the $72.4 billion spent in October 2021. The figure was 10.9% more than in September, according to Adobe. The analysis covers over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million different types of products and 18 product categories. Consumers have been attracted to discounts in such areas as electronics and toys, where cuts have been as high as 17% and 15%, respectively, according to Adobe. The discounts don’t account for inflation. Shoppers have also seen price cuts in computers with more modest discounts in categories like televisions, sporting goods and furniture. However, Adobe expects the best deals to still happen around Cyber Week. From January through October, American consumers have spent a total of $727 billion, up 6.9% from the year-ago period. Adobe expects that holiday sales will be up just 2.5% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, a slower growth rate from last year’s 8.6% increase.