Black Friday shopping was alive and well this year.
E-commerce spending increased 7.5% from 2022, reaching $9.8 billion in the U.S., per an Adobe Analytics report.
“We’ve seen a very strategic consumer emerge over the past year where they’re really trying to take advantage of these marquee days, so that they can maximize on discounts,” said Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.
The robust shopping season comes despite soaring living costs that have made everything from gas to basic groceries exponentially more expensive.
As ESSENCE previously reported, new research commissioned by Funding Our Future and DailyPay and conducted online by The Harris Poll found that most (85%) of the hourly workforce in the U.S. say inflation, has immensely affected their lives over the past year, according to a news release shared with ESSENCE.
Nearly all hourly workers (93%) are stressed when attempting to manage their finances and 71% shared they are being affected physically and/or mentally. Gen Z are the most likely of our workforce to be hourly workers, so their health is the most at risk.
“The youngest members of our labor market are experiencing significant financial stress, which has a detrimental impact on their health as well as the opportunity for a secure future,” said Lettie Nocera, Senior Manager of the Funding Our Future coalition at the Bipartisan Policy Center in a statement shared with ESSENCE. “We must continue to advance innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of all American workers.”
The holiday shopping season is expected to continue pop, according to experts.
“We do expect growth to weaken because those discounts will weaken and they are dictating a lot in terms of buyer behavior this season,” Pandya told CNBC in an interview.