The ecommerce software provider defined the holiday season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. Year over year, Salesforce said, global online sales grew 3%. Moreover, the global average discount rate across the entire holiday season was 21%. That’s the highest it has been since 2020, Salesforce said. Salesforce uses data from more than 1.5 billion global shoppers.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2022, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $116.97 billion in web sales.

Meanwhile, U.S. online holiday spending reached $221.1 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

How much did global ecommerce sales grow during the 2023 holiday season?

By week, the largest sales growth during the holiday season was a tie between Cyber Week (the week encompassing Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday) and pre-Christmas, according to Salesforce data. Each of those weeks grew sales 6% year over year, Salesforce reported. The next-highest sales growth (4%) was in the first week of November. Christmas-week sales growth declined 4% year over year.

Based on Salesforce’s data, order growth was correlated with sales growth during the 2023 holiday season. Cyber Week and pre-Christmas week each recorded 6% year-over-year order volume growth in 2023. Meanwhile, order volume during the first week of the holiday season grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. Christmas-week order volume declined 6%.

For the holiday season as a whole, order volume grew 2% year over year, Salesforce said. That correlated with 2% year-over-year growth in units per transaction growth, and the increase in average selling price was 0.7% year over year, Salesforce said.

How popular was store pickup in the 2023 holiday season?

Each week of the 2023 holiday season, at least 22% of orders were picked up at stores, Salesforce found — or more than one out of every five orders. That grew to at least a quarter of all orders from the week after Thanksgiving through Christmas week, according to Salesforce, with about a third of orders (33%) being picked up at stores during Christmas week.

Share of online orders picked up at store during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce.

Mobile shopping trends during the 2023 holidays

Traffic to mobile devices grew year over year during each week of the holiday season, Salesforce said. The largest growth in mobile traffic, 10%, was during Cyber Week. The first week of the holiday season, post-Cyber Week, and the week before Christmas each recorded 9% growth in mobile traffic, according to Salesforce.

In contrast, desktop web traffic decreased each week of the holiday season, Salesforce found.

What channels drove the most online traffic through the holiday season?

Each week of the holiday season, direct traffic accounted for the largest source of online retailers’ global website visits. From Nov. 1 through the end of December, Salesforce data shows, direct traffic accounted for 37% of all visits to online retailers’ websites, with three exceptions. During and directly preceding Cyber Week, that traffic source bumped up slightly to 38%. On Christmas week, it dipped slightly to 36%.

Search traffic accounted for about a third of all website visits throughout the 2023 holiday season, Salesforce found, hovering between 31% and 33% each week. Internal traffic accounted for 14% to 15% of visits each week during that time frame, and traffic from social media platforms combined for 10% to 11% of total visits each week. Advertising and email traffic each accounted for just 1% of global visits to online retailers’ websites.

Global web traffic growth from social media platforms grew 10% year over year in the first week of the 2023 holiday season, tied with the mid-season week halfway between Cyber Week and Christmas. Such traffic from social media platforms was its lowest during the holiday season during Christmas week (4%).

Advertisement traffic growth increased the most in the mid-season week (27%) and the week before Christmas (23%). The week before Thanksgiving, advertising traffic growth decreased 4%, the only week with negative ad traffic growth during the season.

Email and direct traffic were the only other channels to have negative growth during the 2023 holiday season, according to Salesforce data. Email traffic growth decreased 2% the week before Christmas, with a larger drop (-16%) during Christmas week. Direct traffic growth also decreased year over year (2%) during Christmas week.

How did returns factor into the 2023 holiday season?

Salesforce data shows that returns during the 2023 holiday season were largely consistent with the 2022 season. The percentage of orders consumers returned each week was essentially flat, with the exception that they grew to 19% during Christmas week in 2023, compared with 16% in 2022. They also grew slightly in the second week of November 2023 (11%) compared with the same week in 2022 (10%).

Share of orders consumers returned during each week of the holiday season in 2023 and 2022, according to Salesforce data.

Returns dipped slightly to 10% during the first week of November 2023 from 11% in 2022, and to 4% during Cyber Week 2023 compared with 5% in 2022.

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These are the most important trends of the 2023 holiday season, according to Digital Commerce 360’s coverage.

1. Consumers spent despite inflation worries

Analysts spent much of 2023 warning about an economic slowdown. Consumers, meanwhile, were burdened with shrinking savings, resumed student loan payments, and inflation. Retailers shared similar concerns in quarterly earnings calls.

“The sharp deceleration in retail growth is due to stubborn inflation in many sectors, spiking interest rates, a year-over-year decline in COVID-era federal stimulus, and the ongoing rotation of consumer spending from goods to services,” president at retail research firm Consumer Growth Partners Craig Johnson said in a holiday forecast.

Despite these concerns, consumers spent anyway. According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. online holiday spending reached $221.8 billion. That’s in line with Adobe’s projection of $221.8 billion. Online holiday spending in the U.S. grew 4.9% over Adobe’s recorded $211.7 billion in 2022, setting a new ecommerce record. Growth was higher than the 3.5% year-over-year growth Adobe reported in 2022. Adobe classified November and December as the holiday season.

Fraud prevention vendor Signifyd says U.S. holiday sales increased 7% in 2023 over 2022. Signifyd classifies Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 as the holiday season. The security company previously predicted that sales would grow 5%.

Some consumers might have even spent money they didn’t have. Buy now, pay later services like Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay were used to finance more holiday spending than ever this year. That contributed $16.6 billion in online spending, an increase of 14% and $2.1 billion over the same period in 2022. U.S. consumers used BNPL for $9.2 billion in online purchases in November, up 17.5% year over year. Cyber Monday was the biggest BNPL day in history, accounting for $940 million in sales, up 42.5%.

2. The holiday season extended

Holiday shopping started earlier this year. Amazon’s Big Deal Days sale in October kicked the buying season off in earnest. Walmart held a competing Holiday Kickoff Sale at the same time, explicitly marketing the October event as part of the holiday season.

Other retailers felt the pressure to start marketing holiday promotions earlier, too. True Religion launched its holiday campaign in October, earlier than in previous years. The retailer studied consumer behavior and Google search trends, alongside information from consumer research firms like McKinsey and Deloitte.

Meble Furniture made a similar calculation, president Raf Michalowski said. The marketing firm that works with Meble advised the retailer to start the sale earlier.  

“Consumers only have so much money to spend, so you want to get in front of them or they spend it somewhere else,” he told Digital Commerce 360.

Sales and holiday-themed marketing events, such as Big Deal Days, pushed consumers to start shopping earlier in the season, says Kasi Socha, analyst at retail data research company Gartner. Consumers are trending toward shopping for holidays all year long, she says, and Gartner predicts 30% of consumers will shop for winter holiday gifts year-round by 2026.

A November poll from Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights bears that out. Nearly one-quarter (23.9%) of the 844 consumers surveyed said they started shopping for holiday gifts before September this year. Another 11.1% started in September, and 13.4% started in October. Just 21.9% of consumers waited until the Cyber 5 period or later to start holiday shopping.

3. Online shopping kept growing

2023 proved consumers aren’t willing to give up the convenience of online shopping, even if they feel safe going to stores. The U.S. Census Bureau, as well as the National Retail Federation (NRF) and CNBC’s Retail Monitor, reported that November online holiday spending outpaced in-store sales growth.

Online sales recorded the largest growth of any category measured by Retail Monitor, growing 26.27% year over year. Core retail sales, meanwhile, grew 4.7%. Retail Monitor’s data comes from credit and debit card purchases from consumer data vendor Affinity Solutions. 

The U.S. Census Bureau also reported online sales growth outpacing total retail in November. Nonstore sales, which encompass online sales, grew 10.6% over 2022. That’s significantly higher than total retail sales, which grew 4.1% over the same period. 

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The holiday season encompasses online spending between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 across 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 categories. 

The majority of online holiday shopping happened in November, boosted by a strong Cyber 5. U.S. consumers spent $123.5 billion online in November, a 6% year-over-year increase. $38.0 billion of that spending took place between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, growing 7.8% over 2022.

The other $98.6 billion in U.S. online sales were recorded in December. Retailer sales that continued on past Cyber Monday drove some of that December spending, Adobe says.

Holiday spending by category

65% of online holiday spending in 2023 was in just five of the 18 categories Adobe tracks.

Top categories by online holiday spending:

• Electronics ($50.8 billion)
• Apparel ($41.5 billion)
• Furniture ($27.3 billion)
• Groceries ($19.1 billion)
• Toys ($7.7 billion)

TVs, smart speakers, tablets, Bluetooth headphones, and smart watches ranked among the most popular online purchases during the holiday period. Pajamas, sneakers, and cold-weather items like sweatshirts dominated apparel sales. Popular furniture purchases included barstools, throw pillows and Christmas decor.  

Aside from the top categories, skin care serums and moisturizers, vacuums, and small kitchen appliances were also top sellers, Adobe says.

Categories with the highest sales also recorded some of the largest discounts. Electronics discounts peaked at 31% off listed prices, followed by toys (28%) and apparel (24%).

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) in holiday spending

BNPL was used as a payment method in more online sales than ever this year, according to Adobe. It contributed $16.6 billion in online spending, an increase of 14% and $2.1 billion over the same period in 2022. U.S. consumers used BNPL for $9.2 billion in online purchases in November, up 17.5% year over year. Cyber Monday was the biggest BNPL day in history, accounting for $940 million in sales, up 42.5%.

“In an uncertain demand environment, retailers leaned on discounting and flexible payment methods to entice shoppers this holiday season,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement. “The strategy was effective, driving record spend online during big days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday, and a record 11 days that surpassed $4 billion in daily spend this season.”

The holiday season contributed to a huge year for BNPL use, accounting for $75 billion in online spending in 2023, up 14.3% from 2022.

Other holiday spending takeaways

Mobile shopping overtook desktop online sales for the first time in 2023. 51.1% of online sales across the holiday season were made via smartphones in 2023, up from 47% in 2022, Adobe says. Mobile sales peaked on Christmas Day at 65%, from 61% in 2022. Consumers made purchases on final holiday deals while spending time with friends and family, Adobe says.

Meanwhile, curbside pickup dipped slightly, though it still remains popular. It was used as a fulfillment method in 18.4% of online orders from retailers offering the option. That’s down from 21% in 2022. Usage peaked ahead of Christmas Eve on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, accounting for 36.8% of orders during that time frame. Major retailers including Walmart and Target promoted their curbside capabilities through Christmas Eve.

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Some early numbers from the holiday auto sales period are already available. They indicate this season could bookend a year of improved sales, even if some results are mixed.

Projected 2023 auto sales

In 2023, total new car sales are projected to post a year-over-year increase of more than 10%. That would be the highest increase since 2019, according to Cox Automotive Inc. Cox operates Autotrader.com, an online marketplace for auto buyers and sellers. For used vehicles, about 35.9 million units are expected to be sold for the year. That would be fewer than the 36.3 million used autos sold in 2022, the company shared.

Online sales, meanwhile, have been on track to claim a larger share of the auto sales market. By 2025, online auto sales in the United States are expected to represent 18% of total auto sales, up from 9.7% in 2020, according to the consultancy Roland Berger LP.

Compared with 2022, early returns for the 2023 holiday shopping season indicate that online auto sales are on the rise. Cars.com reports that between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday it saw a 6.4% week-over-week rise in new car searches. That was accompanied by a 4% increase in used car searches for the same period. Cars.com is operated by Cars Commerce, Inc. The provider of automotive marketplace technology claims to attract about 26 million visitors a month.

“Historically, we’ve seen an increase in engagement with automaker ad campaigns on Cars.com during sales events and a significant uptick in dealer leads, as in-market shoppers are motivated to find out more about deals on available vehicles,” says Rebecca Lindland, senior director of Industry Data and Insights for Cars Commerce. “Additionally, that uptick in searches on Cars.com points to active shoppers during the holiday season when many of these ad campaigns and sales events occur.”

Signals in used car sales

Sales of used cars also got off to a strong start in November. Cox Automotive says it saw a surge in auto sales on Autotrader.com beginning the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

“Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving was one of our top five highest volume days for cars sold ever measured by sales contracts signed,” says Paulo da Silva, assistant vice president of operations for Cox Automotive Ecommerce. “On Black Friday we saw another top five highest volume day for cars sold ever.”

Cox Automotive also saw one of its three best days ever on Black Friday for funnel activity. “That strong funnel activity the week of Black Friday translated into November being the best month ever in terms of cars sold through our ecommerce platform,” da Silva adds.

The spike in volume on Autotrader.com heading into Thanksgiving and on Black Friday is a sign that consumers are making greater use of the online channel when purchasing a car, a Cox Automotive spokesperson adds.

Why it could be a December to remember

As the calendar flipped to December, early data indicates that consumers continue to spend on auto purchases. Interest can be seen in search activity. Cars.com saw that the first 11 days of the month were 5% busier than the first 11 days of November. That lift reflects typical seasonal buying patterns, Lindland says. One factor helping the surge in auto sales during December is that car companies are upping the ante when it comes to incentives. These are meant to encourage consumers to pull the trigger on purchasing an automobile, she adds.

Those boosted incentives have come as inflation led to higher prices and interest rates, including for auto loans, Lindland notes. “Some economic headwinds exist for consumers, but automakers are increasing incentives to entice shoppers with better finance terms and help offset high prices,” Lindland says.

With used car sales for 2023 projected to be slightly lower than in 2022, Lindland does not expect a year spike in the category. “December is a soft month for used vehicles as those would-be shoppers tend to allocate their wallet to holiday-related expenses, deferring vehicle purchases until they get their tax return.”

Expectations based on previous years

In average years, auto sales have risen in December relative to previous months, according to TrueCar.com. The digital marketplace connects buyers and sellers to a nationwide network of auto dealers. TrueCar.com says it does not have “mature data” yet for the 2023 holiday shopping season. Nevertheless, historical data confirms that trend. In December 2022, sales of new cars on the TrueCar.com platform accounted for 7.8% of sales for the month. That was up from 6.9% in November the same year.

“Monthly seasonal sales [in 2020 and 2021] were abnormal due to COVID/inventory shortages, but this year has been a little more stable, comparable to the 2015-2019 average,” says a Truecar.com spokesperson.

From 2015-2019 new car sales on the TrueCar.com platform averaged 9.2% for December, the company adds.

The uptick in sales during December coincides with an increase in incentive spending by automakers during the month. In 2022, automakers increased their incentive spending by 23.7 %, according to TrueCar.com data. The surge in incentive spending in 2022 followed a 4.6% decline in incentive spending in 2021. Incentive spending increased 4% in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Are holiday promotions effective?

New car sales tend to be strong throughout December. Within the month, one of the most active periods for used cars is between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, according to Vroom.com. “It’s what many in the industry call the 13th month,” a Vroom.com spokesperson says. Vroom will not report sales for the fourth quarter of 2023 until early next year.

On the used car front, online used car retailer Carvana Co. does not traditionally see December promotions move the needle. “Where we see a real increase in sales is around tax season when consumers use their tax returns to purchase a car,” says a Carvana spokesperson.

Sales data from TrueCar.com supports that trend. In 2022, used car sales on the TrueCar.com platform accounted for 9.3% of sales in May. That was up from 9.1% in April. Used car sales as a percentage of sales dipped to 8.4% in June and 8.1% in July.

Challenging factors

While holiday auto sales look strong for 2023, the forecast for 2024 is that sales will slow slightly. That is due to high interest rates for auto loans, depleted inventory and fewer incentives from automakers, says Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke.

“2023 has been strong and consistent for new vehicle sales and have been supported by improving supply levels and higher incentives,” Smoke said in Cox Automotive’s bi-weekly auto market report posted December 19. “But, for both the economy and auto sales, expect slow growth in the year ahead. One percent to two percent growth is about all we can expect, but it beats the alternative.”

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That data excludes automotive sales. Mastercard SpendingPulse says it measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment and is not adjusted for inflation.

“This holiday season, the consumer showed up, spending in a deliberate manner,” said Michelle Meyer, chief economist at the Mastercard Economics Institute. “The economic backdrop remains favorable with healthy job creation and easing inflation pressures, empowering consumers to seek the goods and experiences they value most.”

Did online holiday sales grow in 2023?

Online holiday sales in 2023 grew from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve, Mastercard found, and so did in-store sales.

And to give more detail, online retail spending increased at a faster pace than in-store spending. In-store sales grew 2.2% year over year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Yet online retail sales increased 6.3% year over year in the same period, taking “a considerably larger portion of total retail spending.”

“Retailers started promotions early this season, giving consumers time to hunt for the best deals and promotions,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated. “Ultimately it was about getting the most bang for your buck as consumers spent on a variety of goods and services, resurfacing spending trends from before the pandemic.”

Online holiday sales growth by category

Mastercard SpendingPulse broke out year-over-year data for key retail categories. It did not differentiate online and in-store sales growth and declines. Instead, it provided year-over-year changes in total sales for each category.

Among the five categories it broke out, restaurants grew the most, at 7.8%. Apparel grew 2.4%, closely followed by grocery at 2.1%.

That grocery sales growth extended to web sales as well. Online sales accounted for 11.7% of total weekly grocery spending in the last week of November, according to data from the monthly Brick Meets Click and Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey. United States online grocery sales reached $8.1 billion in November. That’s 5.2% growth over November 2022’s online grocery sales, which reached $7.7 billion.

Conversely, Mastercard found, electronics sales decreased 0.4% year over year, and jewelry sales decreased 2.0%.

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Online holiday shopping got a boost

Online shopping was more popular than ever this year, according to the survey. 

57% of respondents said they did all or most of their holiday shopping online this year. In 2022, 51% had said the same. 2020 marked the previous all-time high in consumers opting to shop for the holidays online, at 55%. 2020 was also the first year online shopping topped 50%, according to the CNBC survey data.

The next most popular response was far lower than online. Just 18% of respondents reported doing most of their holiday shopping at big box stores, like Walmart and Best Buy. That figure has been largely on the decline since 2010 when it made up nearly half (48%) of answers. Locally owned non-chain stores (16%), department stores (8%), outlets (7%), wholesale retailers (4%), chains (3%) and luxury stores (1%) made up the remainder of responses. 

Online shopping data bears out the results of the survey. The Cyber 5 period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday recorded $38.0 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Adobe Analytics. Adobe’s data is based on 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday each broke online sales records on the respective days. Cyber Monday became the biggest online sales day to date, at $12.4 billion in U.S. sales.

Amazon is the top online holiday shopping destination

Among survey respondents who primarily shopped online, Amazon was the big winner. 74% of that group said they did most of their online shopping at Amazon. Though down from a high of 81% in 2019, it was still by far the most popular choice.

The mass merchant was also the most popular place to shop online among all survey respondents, even those who didn’t say they do most or all of their shopping online. 43% of all adults said Amazon was their top online shopping destination.

Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of retailers in North America by online sales. It is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV.

The online retail giant accounted for more than a quarter (26.5%) of web traffic to the Top 1000 retailers during Cyber 5, per Digital Commerce 360 analysis of Similarweb data. Amazon had the highest U.S. traffic of any retailer site during that period, and it grew its share of traffic 7.2% over 2022. It called the 11 days between Nov. 17 and Nov. 27, which includes Cyber 5, record-breaking and said customers purchased more than 1 billion items. 

Other online destinations remain less popular

Walmart was the next most popular online retail destination in the survey behind Amazon. 16% of consumers who primarily shopped online named Walmart as their top store. 9% of all adults surveyed said Walmart was their top online shopping destination. Walmart ranks No. 2 in the Top 1000 and No. 9 in the Top 100 marketplaces. The big-box store received 6.8% of Cyber 5 traffic among the Top 1000, a slight decline from 6.9% in 2022.

Walmart said its marketplace had its two most successful sales days to date over the Cyber 5 holiday shopping period. Black Friday and Cyber Monday were the two biggest sales days, the retailer said without revealing specifics. Millions of consumers shopped on the website during those days, it says. The retailer has been investing in its online marketplace recently, and it has growing popularity among online shoppers to show for it.

Other big box retailers, including Target (No. 5 in the Top 1000) and Best Buy (No. 7), were the top shopping choice of 7% of primarily online shoppers. They were also the main online shopping destination of 4% of all respondents. Target and Best Buy recorded some of the sharpest traffic share declines over Cyber 5, down 6.8% and 10.9%, respectively.

A smaller percentage of consumers said they primarily shopped at specialty online stores like craft marketplace Etsy or local businesses’ websites. 14% of primarily online shoppers chose that option, while just 8% of total shoppers said the same. Etsy ranks No. 17 in the marketplaces database.

Department stores like Macy’s (No. 17) and Kohl’s (No. 23) made up the remainder of online shopping. 6% of online shoppers preferred to do most of their shopping at department stores online, and just 3% of total respondents said they do most of their online shopping there.

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The SEC disclosure came on Dec. 15, the first day that registrants became required to disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience. They also have to disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance.

In its filing, VF Corp. said it immediately began taking steps to contain, assess and remediate the incident “upon detecting the unauthorized occurrences.” Those steps included VF Corp. beginning an investigation with “leading external cybersecurity experts,” beginning a response plan and shutting down “some systems,” the company reported in its SEC filing.

“The threat actor disrupted the company’s business operations by encrypting some IT systems,” VF Corp. wrote. The threat actor also “stole data from the company, including personal data. The company is working to bring the impacted portions of its IT systems back online and implement workarounds for certain offline operations with the aim of reducing disruption to its ability to serve its retail and brand ecommerce consumers and wholesale customers.”

VF Corp. is No. 36 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers by annual web sales. In addition to Vans, VF Corp. also owns The North Face, Timberland, Supreme, Wrangler, Lee, Nautica, Dickies and JanSport, among other brands.

Impact of VF Corp. cyberattack on ecommerce

VF Corp.-operated retail stores remain open globally, the company said. And whereas consumers can purchase available merchandise, the company wrote, VF Corp. is experiencing certain operational disruptions as a result of the cyberattack.

“Consumers are able to place orders on most of the brand ecommerce sites globally,” VF Corp. wrote. “However, the company’s ability to fulfill orders is currently impacted.”

VF Corp. did not reveal the extent of the cyberattack on its ecommerce fulfillment.

Chester Wisniewski, director, global field CTO, at Sophos, a cybersecurity services company, said ransom attacks targeting the retail sector during the winter holiday shopping season are par for the course, but at this busy time they’re particularly damaging.

“For VF Corp., this attack is a bit of a triple-whammy,” Wisniewski said. “Not only are they fighting an active attack during their busiest period; they are also the first to report under the new SEC guidelines, drawing even more attention to their incident.”

Wisniewski said the “good news” is that the company has minimized the impacts at its retail locations. But the cyberattack has impacted the VF Corp.’s fulfillment operations.

“They have stated that personal data was stolen, but it is too early to tell whether it impacts their customers,” Wisniewski said.

Holiday cyberattacks continue to affect online retailers

Around the same time last month, 23andMe Inc., Staples Inc. and Henry Schein Inc. faced cyberattacks. Those attacks, in and around the busy Cyber 5 holiday shopping period, put customers’ privacy at risk. Staples ranks No. 14 in the Top 1000. 23andMe is No. 317.

Those three incidents are not all the same, though, according to Jon Marler, cyber evangelist at VikingCloud, a cybersecurity and compliance company. Marler and his team develop solutions for clients to deal with evolving cyber threats.

The 23andMe incident was not a data breach in the traditional sense, he said, based on publicly available information. According to the company’s statements, the culprit (or culprits) stole customer data, but they did so by exfiltrating via credential stuffing, Marler said.

Meanwhile, the Staples and Henry Schein attacks appear to have been detected internally, he said, leading the companies to initiate incident responses.

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Black Friday was the top day for ecommerce app installations, according to mobile app experience vendor Airship. Ecommerce app downloads on Black Friday were 81% higher than the daily average holiday rate so far this year, per Airship. 

The four days with the highest ecommerce app downloads of the holiday season were the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through the Saturday after Black Friday. Airship says 2023 marks the first year the top downloads came on consecutive days.

The top ecommerce apps by downloads between Nov. 23 and Nov. 27. include many retailers in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 ranking of the largest online retailers by sales in North America. The top ecommerce apps from most to least downloads on Apple’s App Store were Temu, Walmart (No. 1 in the Top 1000), Shopify (ecommerce platform vendor to 45 of the Top 1000), Amazon (No. 1) and Shein (No. 2 in Asia Database). That’s based on Similarweb data. In the Google Play store, the top apps by downloads were Temu, Shein, Walmart, Amazon, and Target (No. 5). The lists have some overlap with the most visited retail websites during the period, as reported by Digital Commerce 360 with Similarweb data.

Holiday mobile app results

63% of consumers who shopped online used mobile apps for at least some of their purchases, according to digital experience intelligence vendor Glassbox. That’s more than the 57% of consumers who said they planned to shop via apps, based on a survey of 1,000 online shoppers with Dynata surveys. 

Even with the strong turnout, mobile apps might not have lived up to their potential. Before Cyber 5, 84% of surveyed consumers told Glassbox they were willing to download and shop through a retailer’s app if it gave them access to extra sales and promotions. However, just 31% said they actually downloaded a new app. 

A Cyber 5 survey from Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights also found that consumers shopped through mobile apps. 29.8% of respondents said they placed an order on a retailer’s app over the Cyber 5 period. App usage almost caught up to ordering on a retailer’s site through a mobile device, which 34.9% of consumers said they did. Consumers aged 40 to 54 and 55 to 64 were the most likely to order through an app, at 37.4% and 32.1%, respectively.

Women were also more likely to report shopping through a retailer app. 35.3% of women said they made a purchase through an app, versus 23.8% of men.

Mobile shopping, including through mobile apps and visiting retailers’ websites on a mobile device, was a significant force in online shopping during Cyber 5. 59% of Thanksgiving online sales came from a smartphone, compared with 55% in 2022, according to Adobe Analytics. 

Mobile shopping remained strong throughout the rest of the shopping holiday. 51.8% of Cyber 5 online sales came from smartphones. That’s up from 49.9% during the 2022 Cyber 5 period.

Why retailers care about ecommerce app downloads

Online retailers have a vested interest in consumers downloading their apps. U.S. consumers spend, on average, 88% of time on their smartphones inside apps, rather than in the browser, according to Insider Intelligence. And they’re willing to spend money there, too. Global ecommerce app revenue reached $3.59 trillion in 2022, an increase of 8.1% year over year, per Business of Apps.

Retailers have noticed. 74% of retailers say investing in mobile apps is key to profitability, according to an August 2023 survey from Ipsos and Google of 450 retail app decision makers.

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The data, from fraud management and chargeback protection services vendor ClearSale, found a decrease in attempted fraud between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Notably, whereas ClearSale data showed attempts at fraud (or fraud avoided) decreased 37% year over year, order volume and order value also fell among the same group of online retailers.

Bruno Farinelli, senior director of risk at ClearSale, said there are a couple feasible possibilities for the decreases in order volume this year. The first is that many online retailers started their Cyber 5 sales and promotions weeks—and in some cases months—before the actual Black Friday weekend.

“This could have spread out the order volume that would normally happen in one weekend to a broader number of days,” Farinelli said. “The other very reasonable assumption that we could make is that the economic slowdown and the interest rate hikes in the U.S. and across the globe have seen shoppers more cautious in their spending and more frugal with their wallets during seasonal shopping.”

ClearSale’s network includes more than 35 online retailers in the Top 1000, including eight that rank among the largest 100 retailers. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking the largest ecommerce retailers in North America based on their web sales. ClearSale ranks third in the Payment Security and Fraud Prevention category in Digital Commerce 360’s new report, 2024 Leading Vendors to the Top 1000 Retailers.

2024 Leading Vendors to the Top 1000 Retailers Report

Analysis of the leading vendors that serve North America's Top 1000 online retailers. Includes rankings of the Top 10 leading vendors across 24 categories, including Customer Relationship Management, Ecommerce Platforms, Fulfillment Services, Marketing Automation Platforms, and more.

View Details

Fraud decreases from Black Friday to Cyber Monday

ClearSale found that from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, order volume decreased 41% year over year. Order amount decreased, too, down 27% year over year.

The percentage of fraud attempts in relation to total orders also decreased slightly, according to information shared by ClearSale. It decreased to 1.5% of orders being fraud attempts during the Cyber 5 in 2023, from 1.75% last year.

“While fraud is extremely dynamic, economic pressure is one of the drivers behind it, which is why we are seeing a general increase over the last couple of years of attempted fraud in ecommerce,” Farinelli said.

As a rule of thumb, he said, an increase in order volume and value means an increase in fraud, and vice versa. This year’s data followed this formula, he said, but the overall rates of fraud are increasing.

Watches and glasses led as the categories with the highest percentage of fraud attempts during the 2023 Cyber 5, according to ClearSale. 12.83% of orders in the category were subjected to fraud attempts. The next-largest category was computers, at 4.84%. That’s about a third of the rate of the watches/glasses category.

The top categories of fraud attempts in 2023:

1. Watches/glasses: 12.83%
2. Computers: 4.84%
3. Phones/Electronics: 4.47%
4. Digital: 4.44%
5. Jewelry: 2.71%

Three of those categories were also in the top five last year, according to ClearSale data. However, none of the categories ClearSale tracked in 2022 reached 10% of its orders being fraudulent.

The top categories of fraud attempts in 2022:

1. Accessories: 7%
2. Computers: 5.49%
3. Jewelry: 4.56%
4. Phones/Electronics: 4.52%
5. Luxury apparel (over $200 ticket value): 3.14%

The computers, jewelry, and phones/electronics categories all remained in the top five this year. However, the rates of fraud for each decreased year over year, with the jewelry category’s fraud decreasing the most.

Data consistency

The decrease in fraud during the Cyber 5 is consistent with data from Signifyd, another cybersecurity vendor. Signifyd’s network includes 115 retailers in the Top 1000. It found that fraud attempts during the Cyber 5 decreased 20% year over year.

J. Bennett, chief customer officer at Signifyd, said that’s because last year, there was a big and sophisticated wave of fraud attempts engineered by a crime ring in Southeast Asia, and that has not been repeated this year.

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November retail sales excluding automobiles and gasoline grew 4.24% over November 2022, Retail Monitor data shows. Core retail sales, which also excludes restaurants, grew 4.17% in the same period. Both metrics demonstrated higher year-over-year growth than in October, showing that consumers are willing to spend for the holidays despite worries over inflation. 

“November Retail Monitor data shows that consumers are embracing the holiday season and promotions being offered by retailers,” the NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. “Value-conscious shoppers are out looking for deals as they purchase gifts for family and friends, and this data indicates that they’re finding them.”

The NRF predicted total holiday spending between November and December would grow 3%-4% year over year.

Online sales lead November

Online sales recorded the largest growth of any category measured by Retail Monitor, growing 26.27% year over year. Retail Monitor’s data comes from credit and debit card purchases from consumer data vendor Affinity Solutions. 

The U.S. Census Bureau also reported online sales growth outpacing total retail in November. Nonstore sales, which encompass online sales, grew 10.6% over 2022. That’s significantly higher than total retail sales, which grew 4.4% over the same period. 

November was a good month for online retailers. On Cyber Monday alone, U.S. consumers spent $12.4 billion online, according to Adobe Analytics. That’s an increase of 9.6% over the shopping day in 2022, surpassing Adobe’s prediction. 

Increases in online sales for the whole Cyber 5 period, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, were more modest but still significant. Online sales over the key shopping days grew 7.8% year over year to $38.0 billion, per Adobe. They grew nearly twice as much as in 2022, when sales increased 4% over the previous year.

Other category results

Sales increased in seven of the nine categories tracked by Retail Monitor, although none saw the same levels of growth as online sales. 

Health and personal care sales grew 9.15% year over year, according to Retail Monitor, and 8.6% according to the Census Bureau. Sales of sporting goods, hobby items, music and books grew 8.25% in Retail Monitor’s Data, and just 0.3% based on Census Bureau findings. 

Apparel and accessories sales grew in both data sets, up 5.81% per Retail Monitor and 1.2% per the Census Bureau. Apparel was also the most popular online shopping category on Cyber Monday, with sales reaching 189% higher than an average day, according to Adobe.

Consumer electronics sales were less promising. Retail Monitor reports electronics and appliance sales grew just 0.1% year over year in November, while the Census Bureau reports that they declined 0.2%. Lackluster results are due to a relatively poor performance on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to consumer behavior research firm Circana.

“This year’s holiday tech consumers are more focused on the value of their purchase than just getting the lowest price,” says Paul Gagnon, consumer technology industry advisor for Circana. “Black Friday shoppers had a more leisurely shopping experience this year, with ample inventory to choose from as they took advantage of bargains on big-screen TVs, and opted for higher-priced computer purchases.” Electronic unit sales declined 3% year over year during Cyber Week, and dollar sales declined 4%, Circana found.

Retail Monitor recorded declining sales in building and garden supplies (down 0.06%) and furniture and home furnishings (down 2.08%). The Census Bureau also noted a decline of 5.5% annually in furnishings, likely a result of high mortgage rates and a sluggish real estate market.

The halfway point of the holiday sales season

November results give analysts and retailers an early look at how overall holiday sales might perform. 

“Since November makes up half the holiday season, these numbers are a positive indication of what we can expect for the full holiday season,” the NRF’s Shay says. 

Holiday sales so far are right on track with expectations, says Dipanjan Chatterjee, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. Though consumers report low confidence and high anxiety about the state of the economy and their spending, other signs say things are looking up.

“Unemployment is low, pandemic-era savings haven’t entirely been drawn down, house values are high. This financial security continues to stimulate spending despite trepidations about an uncertain financial future,” Chatterjee told Digital Commerce 360.

Consumers are price resilient this year.

“The trick for retailers this holiday season is to sell without giving it away, knowing that the consumer is financially able to stretch,” Chatterjee says. “That is why we see retailers dialing back on sitewide sales and free shipping, and offering volume-based discounts to extract greater spending in return for a deal.”

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