Consumers spent $211.7 billion online over the 2022 holiday season (from November 1 to December 31), growing 3.5% year over year, per Adobe Analytics.

The leading reason consumers in the UK and US return online purchases is due to fit, size, or color, according to Coveo. Damage, defects, and poor quality are other top reasons. Some 18% of UK and US consumers make returns because they order multiple sizes with the intent of keeping only those that fit.

Orders made via buy now, pay later (BNPL) increased 85% over Cyber Five, according to Adobe Analytics. “It’s a win-win for retailers” as it increases basket size and boosts conversion rates, our analyst Grace Broadbent said on the “Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail” podcast.

For holiday shopping, 56% of US consumers prefer online-only retailers, and 49% favor mass merchants, according to Deloitte. Off-price retailers rank No. 3 on this list, nearly tied with the remaining four retail formats.

If Cyber Five trends hint at what to expect from the rest of the holiday season, expect buy now, pay later (BNPL) to be a big hit.

Now that the dust has settled from this year’s record-breaking Cyber Five (the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday), it’s time to see how the industry’s advertising efforts shook out, according to new research from Tinuiti.

Close to a third of US adults don’t like anything about in-store holiday shopping, according to CivicScience. Meanwhile, for more than a fifth, experiencing the products is the biggest appeal. About the same share most enjoy the holiday music, decor, and displays, while 17% are after in-store deals.

Once again, Cyber Monday has taken the title of the biggest online shopping day of the year. Let’s break down why it may be a sign of a jolly holiday ahead.

In 2002, Comscore noticed a spike in online sales the Monday after Thanksgiving, a phenomenon we now know as Cyber Monday. Our analyst Andrew Lipsman and Dan Hess, formerly of Comscore and now at The NPD Group, share four facts about the retail holiday.

The Cyber Five will not see much US sales growth from last year. Cyber Monday will be the biggest day of this promotional period with ecommerce sales growing 3.8% year over year to $11.84 billion.

Marketers have their hearts set on capturing holiday dollars from Gen Z this season, but they shouldn’t run the same old marketing playbook if they want to succeed.

In a year plagued with rising prices and supply chain constraints, many retailers are hoping the holiday season will signal a return to normal. But according to Adobe, that may not be the case.

US ecommerce holiday sales will increase by 2.5% this year, an underwhelming figure compared with 8.6% growth in 2021 and a 33.0% surge in 2020.

We predict consumer spending will remain strong this holiday season with 7.0% growth to $1.297 trillion, though much of the gain will be due to inflation. But competing crosscurrents driving consumer demand will also determine how the season performs. Here’s our take on which factors are most likely to dominate.

During last week’s Prime Early Access Sale, households spent about 40% less than Amazon’s Prime Day event in July, noted data analysis from Klover.

The Cyber Five period used to be the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. But this year, Amazon’s October Prime Day event could take away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, according to Adobe.

Participation in Halloween activities will be back up to pre-pandemic levels this year, with 69% of consumers planning to celebrate (up from 65% last year and 68% in 2019), according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

This year, 120.0 million US adults will book travel via digital channels. While that figure is up 29.7 million from 2020’s pandemic low, it’s 6.2 million fewer digital travel bookers than in 2019.

Prime Day will once again prove to be a major retail event this year, not just for Amazon but for its competitors as well.

As many brands honor members of the LGBT+ community this Pride Month, consumers are looking for more than just a rainbow logo—they want action.