Black Friday online sales dipped for the first time in recorded history, as more people entered the stores, studies found.
According to Adobe Analytics, which monitors over 1 trillion visits to retail sites and 100 million stock-keeping units, which are used to track inventory, online spending on Black Friday dipped to $8.9 billion, compared to a record $9 billion reported in 2020.
'For the first time ever, Black Friday saw a reversal of growth trend of past years,' Vivek Pandya, an analyst for Adobe Digital Insights said in a statement.
She attributed the decline to shoppers 'being strategic in their gift shopping, buying much earlier in the season and being more flexible about when they shop to make sure they get the best deals.'
But other studies show that there was an increase in foot traffic at stores across America on Black Friday, as people are less concerned about getting the coronavirus and retail stores have returned to pre-pandemic hours.
Adobe Analytics reports that 2021 was the first time both Thanksgiving and Black Friday online spending did not see a year-over-year increase, as online spending on Thanksgiving was $5.1 billion - the same as it was last year.
The analytics company attributes the decline to consumers starting to spend more earlier in the holiday season 'responding to promotions and deals from retailers that started in October' this year.
It also says inflationary trends and demand levels have left consumers with weaker discounts this year than in years past.
And global supply chain issues could have been a factor, with Adobe reporting that out-of-stock messages increased 124 percent since January 2020, and 172 percent since before the pandemic.
It notes that appliances and electronics have been affected the most, probably due to an ongoing microchip shortage as supply for the chips, which are used in appliances, cars and electronics, increased.
Still, Adobe reports, Cyber Monday is expected to be the biggest online shopping day of the year, with $10.2 billion to
