Customer relationship management firm, Salesforce, has released its 2022 holiday recap of November and December shopping data indicating that consumers spent a total of $1.14 trillion online globally, flat year over year, and $270 billion in the United States up 5% from the 2021 period.
After lackluster deals early in the season, retailers increased discounts so that shoppers saw better deals than in the 2021 holiday season on a proportional basis, with a 21% average discount compared to 19% the year prior, Salesforce asserted. The top discount categories were beauty, skincare and makeup with an average discount of 29% followed by general apparel and handbags at 27%.
Almost one in five online orders placed globally this holiday season were via buy-online-pick-up in-store. BOPIS adoption by consumers peaked at 35% of all orders on the Friday before Christmas as shoppers retrieved last-minute gifts.
Although it wasn’t a steady rise, mobile device ordering tended to gain as the season progressed from 58% in the first week of November to 68% in Christmas week.
Traffic referrals from social media hit an all-time high this holiday season, driving 12% of all mobile traffic, up 23% year over year. Belgium, Italy and the U.S. were the countries with the most social media-minded shoppers, Salesforce pointed out.
In the leadup to the year-end sales period, Salesforce predicted that more than 1.4 billion orders purchased in the 2020 holiday season would be returned. Post-holiday data demonstrates that the number reached 1.39 billion, accounting for 13% of total holiday orders and a 63% increase in returns year over year, according to Salesforce. The numbers spiked in the six days after Christmas with 16% order returns that week.
“Retailers closed out the 2022 holiday season with stronger online sales growth than expected, driven in large part by U.S. demand, steeper discounts on peak days, and BOPIS options,” said Rob Garf, vp and general manager of retail, Salesforce. “Staggering return numbers show that consumers are still cautious amid economic uncertainty, however.”
Salesforce drew its data from over 1.5 billion shoppers on retail sites using the company’s Customer 360 platform, which includes 24 of the top 30 online retailers operating in the United States.
