U.S. retailers are bracing for a slowdown in the pace of Cyber Monday sales, according to a Reuters report on Monday (November 29).
Another reason Cyber Monday isn’t expected to be as profitable as it used to be is the fact that many retailers are spreading their holiday shopping promotions over several weeks instead of saving them all in one day.
Adobe Analytics data shows online spending dropped for the first time on Black Friday. US spending on Cyber Monday is expected to rise from $10.2 billion to $11.3 billion, compared with $10.8 billion last year. The 2020 amount increased by 15% from 2019.
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has also brought uncertainty to the economic upturn, but experts are unsure how it will affect consumer spending during the holiday season and beyond. US shoppers spent about $8.9 billion online on Black Friday, down from $9 billion in 2020.
Mastercard SpendingPulse measures US retail sales across multiple payment methods and includes in-store purchases. A U.S. shopper found he spent 14% more on non-automotive goods from Nov. 26 to Nov. 28 compared to the same weekend in 2020.
According to SpendingPulse, three-day online spending is up 5% year-over-year and down 28.7% from 2019.
related news: Cyber Monday Offers Testing of Retail Experiences in the Metaverse
Meanwhile, the Metaverse debuted this year during the holiday shopping season, with brands and marketplaces using Black Friday and Cyber Monday to test new concepts and invite customers into virtual worlds.
Interest in the Metaverse really picked up when Facebook rebranded it last month to better reflect the company’s move towards developing virtual worlds. Horizon Worlds, Facebook’s social virtual reality (VR) platform, currently in beta testing, works in tandem with the Oculus Quest. Horizon, which has been in development for several years, features a workplace collaboration platform called Horizon Workrooms that creates remote work meetings that turn attendees into avatars.
How Consumers Pay Online Using Stored Credentials
While some consumers are turning to storing their payment credentials with merchants for convenience, security concerns keep others hesitant. In “How We Pay Digitally: Stored Credentials Edition,” in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, PYMNTS surveyed her 2,102 US consumers to analyze consumer dilemmas and how merchants overcome holdouts clarified.
