E-commerce Sales Soared This Holiday Season Amid Search Marketers Navigating Google Updates
U.S. consumers spent $204.5 billion on e-commerce purchases during the holiday season, according to Adobe data. This represented an 8.6% increase in online spending year-over-year.
The numbers indicate that e-commerce spenders spread out their shopping more over November and December. In the weeks before Nov 24, spending surged by 19.2% YoY, whereas the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday saw a 1.4% decline compared to the previous year. However, sales picked up again in the weeks after Nov 30, growing by 5.6% YoY.
Undeterred by supply chain challenges. Despite supply chain disruptions that created difficulties for shoppers, they spent at a record volume.
Online shoppers encountered over 6 billion out-of-stock messages during the 2021 holidays, according to the Adobe study. This was 253% higher than in 2019, pre-pandemic, and 10% higher than the previous year.
Less discounting. Online shoppers were willing to buy despite seeing fewer discounts. For example, in the electronics category, discounts averaged only 8% off the full price, compared to 21% off in 2020. Computers saw a 10% discount in 2021 compared to 22% off in 2020.
There were marginally higher discounts in 2021 for apparel and toys.
BNPL grew substantially. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) experienced double-digit growth during the most recent holiday season.
Revenue from BNPL purchases increased by 27% year-over-year, and orders rose by 10%. On average, shoppers spent $224 per order, with about three items in their cart.
Why we care. E-commerce has been a major disruptor in the retail industry even before the pandemic. It subsequently became a lifeline for many brands and consumers.
For search marketers working in retail, whether on the organic or paid side, the holiday season is critical each year. The increase in activity likely buoyed campaigns, provided they weren’t disrupted by major Google updates during the season. Despite criticism, Google issued two major updates during the holidays: a core update and another focused on product reviews.
In our view, these e-commerce figures support the argument that launching core updates, especially highly volatile ones, during the holiday season is unfair to marketers, akin to changing the rules in the middle of the Super Bowl.
Henry Powderly contributed to this report.
