Retailers used hefty discounts to lure inflation-weary consumers into spending on everything from toys to electronics during the 2022 holiday season, according to a report by Adobe Analytics.
Shoppers spent $211.7 billion online during the holiday season, which typically starts in November and ends in December, compared to an earlier forecast of $209.7 billion, the report showed on Thursday.
While the U.S. online holiday sales increased, it grew at the slowest pace as consumers felt the brunt of rising prices.
Holiday discounts were strong enough to sustain discretionary spending through the entire season, according to Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights at a time when consumers were dealing with elevated prices in areas such as food, gas, and rent.
Amazon.com Inc, Target Corp., Walmart Inc., and Best Buy Co Inc. offered early discounts to spur demand and get rid of excess stock.
Adobe Analytics, which measures e-commerce by tracking transactions at websites, has access to data covering purchases at 85% of the top 100 internet retailers in the United States.
The report found that the discounts for toys and electronics saw discounts as high as 25% as opposed to 8% last year, and the majority of them were for toys, where the discount peaked at 34% off the listed price versus 19% last year.
The report said that a large portion of the holiday sales came during the Cyber Week, the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, during which consumers spent $35.3 billion online.