Global online sales top $1.14trn during 2022 holiday season

Consumers spent a total of $1.14 trillion online globally and $270 billion in the US across the 2022 holiday season, said Salesforce, a global leader in CRM, in its 2022 holiday shopping report.

While November’s online sales were lower than in 2021 and 2020, Cyber Week deals and Buy Online and Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) offerings helped retailers drive success in 2022.

Salesforce data highlights trends that shaped the holiday season, including:

•    Holiday returns spike to record highs: Salesforce predicted over 1.4 billion orders purchased this holiday season would be returned. Today’s data shows that the number reached 1.39 billion, accounting for 13 per cent of total holiday orders and a 63 per cent increase in returns YoY. These numbers spiked in the six days after Christmas, with 16 per cent of orders returned over that week — a 5 per cent increase over last year.
•    Retailers got shoppers’ attention with discounts in the runup to Christmas: After lackluster deals early in the season, retailers increased discounts. In the end, shoppers saw better deals than the 2021 holiday season — a 21 per cent average discount compared to 19 per cent the year prior.
Top discount categories included beauty, skincare, and makeup with an average discount of 29 per cent.
General apparel and handbags were the next most discounted categories at 27 per cent.
•    BOPIS brings hope to last minute shoppers — and growth to retailers: Nearly one out of every five online orders placed globally this holiday season were via BOPIS. BOPIS adoption by consumers peaked at 35 per cent of all orders on the Friday before the Christmas holiday as shoppers retrieved last minute gifts.
When the ground shipping window closed on Dec. 15, U.S. companies that offered BOPIS grew their revenue nearly 7X faster than those without this fulfilment option.
•    Social media referrals hit an all-time high: Shoppers are adept at finding the products they want through all forms of commerce, but social media proved to be a growing favourite in 2022. Traffic referrals from social media hit an all-time high this holiday, driving 12 per cent of all mobile traffic (+23 per cent YoY). Belgium, Italy, and the U.S. represented the countries with the most social media-minded shoppers.

“Retailers closed out the 2022 holiday season with stronger online sales growth than expected – driven in large part by U.S. demand, steeper discounts on peak days, and BOPIS options,” said Rob Garf, VP & GM of Retail, Salesforce. “Staggering return numbers show that consumers are still cautious amid economic uncertainty, however.”

Salesforce powered the 2022 holiday season
Despite economic uncertainty and changing consumer spending habits, brands and retailers around the world found success with Salesforce this holiday season:
•    Commerce Cloud powered more than 220 million online orders while delivering fast, easy, and personalized digital experiences to shoppers. Digital sales powered by Commerce Cloud grew more than 6 per cent YoY across the holiday season.
•    Einstein served over 10 billion personalized recommendations in November and December and 9 per cent of all revenue was influenced by shoppers that engaged with these recommendations.  
•    With Service Cloud, agents viewed or worked on more than 30 billion cases (a 20 per cent YoY increase).