SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE:
CRM), the global leader in CRM, today released its annual Cyber
Week report, which analyzes shopping data from over one billion
shoppers on the Salesforce Customer 360 platform and activity
across commerce, marketing, and service (including 24 of the top 30
U.S. online retailers). Overall, 2021 global online sales hit an
all-time high of $275 billion, up 2
percent compared to 2020, and $62
billion in the U.S., up 4 percent compared to 2020.
The data shows that digital patterns established during the
pandemic are still a force this holiday season, with strong early
November growth driven by consumers who were not deterred by higher
prices, lower discounts, and decreased product inventory. Cyber
Week (November 23-29) itself saw
muted growth as a result of these early-season shoppers working
ahead of the traditional shopping peak.
Top Salesforce 2021 shopping insights
- The major digital holiday shopping period is
over: Holiday shopping began in earnest at the start of
the season with consumers spending $74
billion over the first three weeks of November (up 10
percent YoY) and $297 billion
globally (up 5 percent YoY). During Cyber Week, U.S. sales
reached $62 billion (up 4
percent YoY) and global sales reached $275 billion (up 2 percent YoY). The largest
single shopping day over Cyber Week was Black Friday (up 2
percent YoY global, up 5 percent YoY U.S.) as holiday
demand was smoothed out across the entire month of November.
- Consumers find high prices and fewer discounts: Holiday
inflation coupled with lower discounts meant deals were harder to
find this year. Over Cyber Week, the Average Selling Price (ASP)
was up 11 percent in the U.S. and 5 percent globally
compared to last year. Meanwhile, the average discount over Cyber
Week was 26 percent in the U.S. (down 8 percent YoY) and
24 percent globally (down 8 percent).
- Holiday supply chain crunch leaves shoppers with fewer gift
options: Early and persistent supply chain issues meant digital
shelves weren't as well-stocked as in years past.
Product catalogs (number of products being sold) over Cyber Week
shrank 6 percent in the U.S. and 5 percent globally
compared to last year.
- Holiday inflation leads to holiday financing: With
higher prices and fewer discounts, shoppers embraced Buy Now, Pay
Later (BNPL) offerings. Globally, BNPL usage over Cyber Week grew
29 percent YoY (8 percent of all orders) with over
$22 billion in holiday orders
financed. On Black Friday, 7 percent of global orders and 4
percent of U.S. orders were paid for with
BNPL.
- Consumers favor stores with order online, curbside pickup
services: Consumers continued to prioritize health, safety,
convenience, and trust this Cyber Week. U.S. stores offering
curbside or in-store pickup grew their revenue by 50
percent more YoY over Black Friday than retailers not offering
these pickup options.
"While online sales leveled off over Cyber Week
compared to the holiday surge we experienced during the pandemic,
digital shoppers drove significant sales for the first few weeks of
November and maintained the high Cyber Week baseline they
established in 2020," said Rob Garf,
VP and GM of Retail, Salesforce. "Consumers entered
into this holiday season aware of supply chain bottlenecks and
inflation and shopped early and often to smooth out the demand we
usually see concentrated over one week."
Salesforce powers holiday shopping
This year, Salesforce helped retailers like Crocs, e.l.f.
Cosmetics and others around the world double down on digital
as the pandemic continued to push shoppers toward online
purchasing. Powering a record start to the holiday season,
Salesforce customers drove more than 100 million orders in
November. With consumers continuing to shop online, delivering
fast, easy, and personalized digital experiences is more important
than ever and was made possible by:
- Einstein: Artificial intelligence continues to play a
large role in how consumers shop. Cyber Week shoppers engaged with
73.6 million AI-driven product recommendations powered by
Einstein.
- Commerce Cloud: Global digital sales powered by Commerce
Cloud grew 4 percent year-over-year on Thanksgiving, 7
percent on Black Friday and 9 percent on Cyber
Monday.
- Marketing Cloud: Global marketing communications surged
over Cyber Week with 40 billion messages sent, increasing 34
percent YoY. Mobile push notifications grew 114 percent and
email volume increased by 25 percent YoY.
- Service Cloud: Call volumes increased by 39
percent YoY during Cyber Week. Service case creations also
increased by 38 percent YoY during Cyber Week. Over 5.3
million chatbot sessions were initiated over Cyber Week.
Explore further:
- Visit the Holiday Insights Hub for real-time Cyber Week
results.
2021 Salesforce Holiday Insights and Predictions
Methodology
To help retailers and brands benchmark holiday performance,
Salesforce analyzes aggregated data to produce holiday insights
from the activity of over a billion global shoppers across more
than 54 countries powered by Commerce Cloud, in addition to
Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud data from retailers.
Salesforce's holiday data set includes 24 of the top
30 U.S. online retailers on the 2021 Digital Commerce 360 list
and utilizes publicly available third-party data sources.
To qualify for inclusion in the analysis set, a digital commerce
site must have transacted throughout the analysis period, in this
case October 1, 2019 through
November 29, 2021, and met a monthly
minimum visit threshold. Additional data hygiene factors are
applied to ensure consistent metric calculation.
The Salesforce holiday predictions are not indicative of the
operational performance of Salesforce or its reported financial
metrics including GMV growth and comparable customer GMV
growth.
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SOURCE Salesforce