As the leaves start to change and drop like the temperatures, it’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season. Halloween is just weeks away, and Thanksgiving and Christmas will be hot on its heels.
Generally, that means the heaviest season for retail, but 2022 could look a lot different from the norm.
That’s because retailers have been offering deep discounts on all sorts of goods for months, trying to offload misjudged purchases in the wake of the pandemic.
And when shoppers have been getting deals for months, how much more could a doorbuster or a Black Friday offer them?
That’s the question that is currently giving retailers more chills than a stiff winter wind.
Additionally, there’s the question of just how much disposable income will be available as inflation continues to wreak havoc on the bank accounts of anyone middle-class or below.
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“The shape of the holiday season will look different this year, with early discounting in October pulling up spend that would have occurred around Cyber Week,” Adobe Vice President of Growth Marketing and Insights Patrick Brown told CNBC.
Adobe uses retailers’ transaction data from retailers to forecast what might be on the horizon for online sales.
According to their research, Black Friday online sales are expected to be up just 1% over last year with Cyber Monday growth expected to come in at just over 5%. And online spending for the entire holiday season is expected to rise just 2.5% over 2021.
If that number holds, it would be the slimmest increase since Adobe began tracking this particular data seven years ago.
Retailers though are looking for ways to stoke the fire of consumers through special events. Amazon added a second Prime Day of the year this week, the first time they’ve ever staged an autumn addition of their discount bonanza.
Meanwhile, Walmart’s online Rollbacks and More event also runs this week while Target held their Deal Days last week as they look to drive more eyeballs to the internet.
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And yet, it remains to be see whether more event sales will be the magical elixir that pushes the public back into their pocketbooks for purchases in the next few months.
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