U.S. holiday sales spiked in the first three weeks of November with digital sales up 10 percent a year-over year; YoY sales increased 4 percent for Cyber Week.
Inflation caused a spike in pricing for holiday goods; prices were up 11 percent year-over-year in the U.S.
Due to supply chain issues, the holiday inventory in the U.S. shrank 6 percent compared to 2020.
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today released its annual Cyber Week report, which analyzes shopping data from over one billion shoppers on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform and activity across commerce, marketing, and service (including 24 of the top 30 U.S. online retailers). Overall, 2021 global online sales hit an all-time high of $275 billion, up 2 percent compared to 2020, and $62 billion in the U.S., up 4 percent compared to 2020.
The data shows that digital patterns established during the pandemic are still a force this holiday season, with strong early November growth driven by consumers who were not deterred by higher prices, lower discounts, and decreased product inventory. Cyber Week (November 23-29) itself saw muted growth as a result of these early-season shoppers working ahead of the traditional shopping peak.
Top Salesforce 2021 shopping insights
- The major digital holiday shopping period is over: Holiday shopping began in earnest at the start of the season with consumers spending $74 billion over the first three weeks of November (up 10 percent YoY) and $297 billion globally (up 5 percent YoY). During Cyber Week, U.S. sales reached $62 billion (up 4 percent YoY) and global sales reached $275 billion (up 2 percent YoY). The largest single shopping day over Cyber Week was Black Friday (up 2 percent YoY global, up 5 percent YoY U.S.) as holiday demand was smoothed out across the entire month of November.
- Consumers find high prices and fewer discounts: Holiday inflation coupled with lower discounts meant deals were harder to find this year. Over Cyber Week, the Average Selling Price (ASP) was up 11 percent in the U.S. and 5 percent globally compared to last year. Meanwhile, the average discount over Cyber Week was 26 percent in the U.S. (down 8 percent YoY) and 24 percent globally (down 8 percent).
- Holiday supply chain crunch leaves shoppers with fewer gift options: Early and persistent supply chain issues meant digital shelves weren't as well-stocked as in years past. Product catalogs (number of products being sold) over Cyber Week shrank 6 percent in the U.S. and 5 percent globally compared to last year.
- Holiday inflation leads to holiday financing: With higher prices and fewer discounts, shoppers embraced Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offerings. Globally, BNPL usage over Cyber Week grew 29 percent YoY (8 percent of all orders) with over $22 billion in holiday orders financed. On Black Friday, 7 percent of global orders and 4 percent of U.S. orders were paid for with BNPL.
- Consumers favor stores with order online, curbside pickup services: Consumers continued to prioritize health, safety, convenience, and trust this Cyber Week. U.S. stores offering curbside or in-store pickup grew their revenue by 50 percent more YoY over Black Friday than retailers not offering these pickup options.
"While online sales leveled off over Cyber Week compared to the holiday surge we experienced during the pandemic, digital shoppers drove significant sales for the first few weeks of November and maintained the high Cyber Week baseline they established in 2020," said Rob Garf, VP and GM of Retail, Salesforce. "Consumers entered into this holiday season aware of supply chain bottlenecks and inflation and shopped early and often to smooth out the demand we usually see concentrated over one week."
Salesforce powers holiday shopping
This year, Salesforce helped retailers like Crocs, e.l.f. Cosmetics and others around the world double down on digital as the pandemic continued to push shoppers toward online purchasing. Powering a record start to the holiday season, Salesforce customers drove more than 100 million orders in November. With consumers continuing to shop online, delivering fast, easy, and personalized digital experiences is more important than ever and was made possible by:
- Einstein: Artificial intelligence continues to play a large role in how consumers shop. Cyber Week shoppers engaged with 73.6 million AI-driven product recommendations powered by Einstein.
- Commerce Cloud: Global digital sales powered by Commerce Cloud grew 4 percent year-over-year on Thanksgiving, 7 percent on Black Friday and 9 percent on Cyber Monday.
- Marketing Cloud: Global marketing communications surged over Cyber Week with 40 billion messages sent, increasing 34 percent YoY. Mobile push notifications grew 114 percent and email volume increased by 25 percent YoY.
- Service Cloud: Call volumes increased by 39 percent YoY during Cyber Week. Service case creations also increased by 38 percent YoY during Cyber Week. Over 5.3 million chatbot sessions were initiated over Cyber Week.
Explore further:
Visit the Holiday Insights Hub for real-time Cyber Week results.
2021 Salesforce Holiday Insights and Predictions Methodology
To help retailers and brands benchmark holiday performance, Salesforce analyzes aggregated data to produce holiday insights from the activity of over a billion global shoppers across more than 54 countries powered by Commerce Cloud, in addition to Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud data from retailers. Salesforce's holiday data set includes 24 of the top 30 U.S. online retailers on the 2021 Digital Commerce 360 list and utilizes publicly available third-party data sources.
To qualify for inclusion in the analysis set, a digital commerce site must have transacted throughout the analysis period, in this case October 1, 2019 through November 29, 2021, and met a monthly minimum visit threshold. Additional data hygiene factors are applied to ensure consistent metric calculation.
The Salesforce holiday predictions are not indicative of the operational performance of Salesforce or its reported financial metrics including GMV growth and comparable customer GMV growth.
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