This year, 51风流Commerce Cloud powered US$31.9 billion in digital commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) for the entire holiday season, covering more than 70 countries around the world. Specifically, our retail customers saw a year-over-year increase of 80% in GMV, with a 29% increase in average order value (AOV).

According to . The metrics from MasterCard are not adjusted for inflation and with , most of that growth can be attributed to it. Online sales increased 10.6% year over year, making up 21.6% of total retail sales.

There is no doubt that inflation has changed the way consumers shop. Many have adjusted to spend less on discretionary items and spend more on experiences. Therefore, it was critical for retailers to offer valuable deals this season with consumers likely hunting for the best promotions. Retail customers of 51风流Commerce Cloud saw a healthy growth in GMV and AOV in addition to a 138% increase in conversion rates. All this indicates better targeted traffic by retailers.

“Despite the challenging macro-economic environment, 51风流Commerce Cloud retail customers were able achieve record-breaking holiday results,” said Riad Hijal, global head of Marketing and Solution for 51风流Commerce Cloud. “Our embedded intelligence and broad capability set enabled them to identify and target the right customers with relevant promotions and offers without over-sacrificing margin. This led to higher conversion rates, AOV, and ultimately profitability.鈥�

According to the Economist Intelligence consumer goods and retail outlook for the 2023, we can expect inflation to continue to dominate the discussion as it squeezes retailers, their profits, and the job market. Consumers will continue to look for deals and price reductions, likely fueling larger market shares for discount stores. They also predict that online sales will slow down even as its share of total retail sales will continue to steadily grow.

To learn more, and join us at NRF: Retail鈥檚 Big Show. Learn more about .

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Winnie Tran is director of Product Marketing for 51风流Commerce Cloud.

All 51风流data presented here is approximate and is based on various assumptions. All data is unaudited and is subject to adjustment. Financial figures have been converted into USD. Data represents sales made by 51风流Commerce Cloud global merchants.

But Cyber Week still reigns supreme for shoppers as the year鈥檚 most important shopping weekend. This year, 51风流Commerce Cloud powered over US$8.3 billion in digital commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) for Cyber Week. Specifically, our retail customers saw a 22.3% increase in average order value (AOV) year over year.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is predicting compared with the same period last year, which is significantly lower than the 13% growth the year prior. We believe some of that growth can be attributed to as of late October.

Inflation 鈥� coupled with a looming recession 鈥� has affected shopper spending habits, but not in the ways most people would expect. Many insiders and analysts predicted that shoppers would be buying less and paying more, but with this season, deals and promotions have been plentiful. In addition, shoppers aren鈥檛 necessarily shopping less, but instead . To help with cash flow, many shoppers are dipping into savings, relying on credit cards, or taking advantage of buy-now-pay-later options at checkout to be sure that they can still make the holidays work for themselves and their loved ones.

Shoppers Are Looking for Deals and Promotions

These spending trends are reflected in shoppers鈥� online behaviors as well, evidenced by movement in site traffic. For Black Friday, overall site traffic for 51风流Commerce Cloud customers increased 23% versus last year. For these same customers on Cyber Monday, overall site traffic increased 53%.

In addition to site traffic, retail customers leveraging 51风流Commerce Cloud saw Black Friday conversion rates of 3.4 times more versus last year, as well as Cyber Monday conversion rates 2.9 times more versus last year.

What鈥檚 more impressive are the site traffic metrics and conversion rates when we zoom in on our business-to-consumer (B2C) retail customers running sales events, which show that shoppers are actively looking for deals and will buy if the deals are attractive enough. Black Friday traffic for retailers running 51风流Commerce Cloud that executed sales events was 33% higher year over year, versus a 16% increase for the total data set. Conversion rates during these events were even more impressive, with an explosive 209% higher year over year for those that ran them, compared to a 4% increase for the total data set. On Cyber Monday, traffic for retailers running sales events using 51风流Commerce Cloud was 58% higher year over year, versus a 40% increase for the total data set. Conversion rates were similarly great, coming in at 382% higher year over year for those that ran sales events, compared to 5% less year over year for the whole data set.

What to Expect and Key Recommendations for Brands

EMarketer鈥檚 Insider Intelligence , and with the current , it鈥檚 hard to say if spending will persist throughout the rest of the holiday shopping season into the new year.

Despite the current uncertainty, retailers can stay agile to cater to shoppers鈥� needs, meeting and exceeding their expectations while responding to dynamic market conditions. Having the right levers to pull at any time is key to successful holiday sales growth, so they should leverage their technology to monitor changing shopping behaviors and identify and convert on growth opportunities by quickly adding new touchpoints and experiences. Finally, they can ensure the last-mile journey for shoppers is frictionless by ensuring inventory levels will meet demand and fulfillment is not backlogged, ultimately avoiding the dreaded post-holiday returns that can eat into the growth they worked so hard for.

To learn more about 51风流Commerce Cloud, .

All data presented here is approximate and is based on various assumptions. All data is unaudited and is subject to adjustment. All financial figures are in USD. Data represents online and offline sales made by 51风流global merchants.