Adobe Sees Early Holiday Shopping Holding Up Online
The software giant reports that Americans in October spent almost as much online as they did in October 2021 and cites price declines in certain categories.
So far this year, consumers are spending as much online for holiday gifts as they were last year.
That’s the key takeaway from the latest analysis from software giant Adobe, which on Thursday reported that Americans spent $72.2 billion online in October — 10.9 percent more than they did in September — and just slightly less than the $72.4 billion they spent online in October 2021.
“Despite inflationary pressures and the rising cost of borrowing, there was not a material decline this year in early holiday shopping,” said Taylor Schreiner, senior director, Adobe Digital Insights. “With over $72 billion spent online in October, e-commerce demand has shown itself to be durable and resilient, in spite of a challenging macroeconomic environment.”
This fall, the outlook on holiday spending has been dimming due to inflation, the volatile stock market, recession fears and indications that shopper traffic in stores has been slowing since July. Last year, retailers had a record-breaking holiday season, but in 2022 are not expected to come close to matching last year’s results.
Yet according to Adobe’s report, there were big jumps in October for year-overyear sales in certain categories, suggesting consumers are getting an early start on Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping and taking advantage of discounts as retailers seek to clear their bloated inventories. Sales of holiday décor rose 189 percent, outerwear rose 142 percent with the weather cooling, and groceries rose 27.9 percent.
Adobe also reported that consumers have been enticed by bargains in electronics, toys, computers, televisions, sporting goods and furniture. Adobe expects the best deals will happen around Cyber Week, which is the week after Thanksgiving. Adobe’s report covers all of October and analyzes more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million stock keeping units and 18 product categories.
Year-to-date, consumers have spent a total of $727 billion online, up 6.9 percent year-over-year, according to Adobe.
That’s consistent with the National Retail Federation’s projection that holiday sales, on a nominal basis, will be up 6 to 8 percent this year.
Hopes that retailers will have an OK holiday season were raised on Thursday, when the Consumer Price Index showed that prices rose just 0.4 percent in October, and were 7.7 percent higher than a year ago. That was lowest annual increase since January, and a sign that inflation may be peaking. After the CPI report came out Thursday morning, the DOW soared 1000 points, around midday.
According to the Adobe Digital Price Index, in October online prices fell 0.7 percent from October 2021, marking the second consecutive month where online prices fell on a year-over-year basis. In September, online prices decreased 0.2 percent. However, prices in October 2022 rose 0.3 percent over last September.
Big price declines last October were seen in electronics, decreasing 12.9 percent, year-over-year, and 2.4 percent month-to-month.
Toy prices fell 7.1 percent, year-overyear, and 3.5 percent month-to-month.
Computer prices were down 16.4 percent year-over-year and down 2.6 percent month-over-month.
Sporting goods prices were down 4 percent year-over-year and up 0.3 percent month-over-month.
On the other hand, grocery prices rose 14 percent year-over-year and 0.7 percent monthto-month. This jump follows September’s record high — up 14.3 percent year-over-year — but is the first month of 2022 where the category’s inflationary price increases have slowed, Adobe reported.
The Adobe DPI is modeled after the Consumer Price Index published by the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and uses the Fisher Price Index to track online prices.