Inflation reached a 40-year high this year, yet it didn’t stop the famous Black Friday. Last Friday’s discount frenzy broke the previous record by selling $9.12 billion in merchandise, outperforming the previous year by 2.3%. However, compared to other years, that sales record’s structure is somewhat different. The growth of credit and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services seems to have offset the inflationary pressure.
Beyond All Expectations, Black Friday Week
The data from Adobe Analytics collected on Saturday shows that customers used eCommerce more than ever before. One example is the $3.36 billion in sales that Shopify Merchants achieved on Black Friday, shattering previous records. Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) programs like Zip, Afterpay, Affirm, and PayPal’s Pay-in-4 have been enthusiastically adopted by consumers.
In the week of Nov. 19–25, point-of-sale loans climbed by 78%, and BNPL income increased by 81% from the previous week. Contrary to October, online sales increased by almost 200% in the following categories: toys accounted for the highest increase at 285%, followed by audio equipment (230%), electronics (221%), smart homes (271%), and fitness equipment (218%).
Gaming consoles, drones, Dyson vacuums, MacBooks, and gaming-related devices are among the most popular products. Overall, the yearly study from the National Retail Federation was accurate in predicting stronger consumer spending than it did before 2020. In addition to record BNPL orders, the Black Friday week saw a boom in mobile shopping, which, according to Salesforce, accounted for a record 48% of total online sales, up from 44% last year. With $5.29 billion and $9.12 billion respectively, Thanksgiving and Black Friday both exceeded forecasts and set records. Online buyers don’t often spend more than $3 billion every day. On Cyber Monday, which Adobe projects will generate $11.2 billion, a YoY rise of 5.1%, this trend is anticipated to continue.
Original Black Friday Created in an Inflationary Environment
After the Thanksgiving holiday and only in the US, Black Friday ushers in the start of the holiday shopping season. Beginning in the early 1950s, the term “Black Friday” referred to employees who called in sick after Thanksgiving, generally to extend the holiday into a 4-day weekend.
Since then, as consumer power increased, employees have expanded it to include escapades at the mall and clogged roads, particularly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Black Friday was first acknowledged by The New York Times in 1975, a year after inflation reached 11.05%. Inflation peaked in 1980 at a record 13.55%.
One year later, on November 28, 1981, The Philadelphia Inquirer published the first description of Black Friday as the day when retailers collect their annual profits and turn their accounting books from red (negative) to black (positive). Where Can Customers Find Relief from Prices?
The NRF predicted that consumers will spend 6%–8% more than they did last year in the present macro environment, which is in line with the 7.7% inflation rate. The only significant product category that provided consumer comfort was clothes, with a 0.7% decrease in costs from September to October, except from used vehicle prices, which fell by 2.4%.
Nevertheless, there was a need for inventory clearance due to supply chain disruptions over the previous two years and an excessive number of orders that were carried over. This gave retail establishments plenty of room to get rid of inventory that was no longer in high demand. Clothing, TVs, appliances, and computers were included in that broad category by Adobe Analytics.
NRF estimates that households making under $75k should cut their holiday expenditures by $606 on average. Despite being fewer in number, households making over $150k should make up the difference in spending by increasing their average annual income by $1,304.
Is High Inflation Being Exit by the Economy?
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October decreased from 8.2% to 7.7%, yet the percentage still indicates an increase in prices. Having said that, it seems like inflation is gradually slowing down. Crude Oil (WTI) is currently down 3% year over year, which is the biggest drop since the beginning of 2021. Additionally, the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX), which measures global container freight prices, has fallen by roughly -300% from its top of $11,109 in late September to its lowest level since December 2020. Similarly, prices on the home market are dropping at their quickest rate since the Great Recession of 2008. The highest increase in more than 20 years, however, was a 15% YoY increase in credit card debt balances.
The third quarter of 2022 saw a continuation of the rise in credit card, mortgage, and auto loan balances due to both strong consumer demand and increased pricing. Donghoon Lee, a research advisor for economics at the New York Fed, says
It’s interesting to note that as of September, 2.7% of the total amount of outstanding debt still had a very low debt default rate for Q3 2022. This might alter, though, if the jobless rate keeps rising. It is currently 3.7% compared to 3.5% last month.
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