• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • About Us
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Parcel & Express
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Robotics
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Customer Relationship Management
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • Green Energy
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Management & Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Warehouse Automation
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • WHITEPAPERS
  • VIDEOS
Home » Online Holiday Spending in the U.S. Grew at the Slowest Rate in Years

Online Holiday Spending in the U.S. Grew at the Slowest Rate in Years

FedEx
FedEx Corp. couriers unload packages from a delivery truck. Photo: Bloomberg.
January 13, 2022
Bloomberg

Online shopping for holiday gifts last year in the U.S. grew at the slowest rate since at least 2014, according to Adobe Analytics, after a blowout year in 2020.

Consumers spent a record $204.5 billion on e-commerce from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, an 8.6% increase from the prior-year period, Adobe said. Growth slowed from prior years amid decreased popularity of major shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, fewer discounts on key gift categories, and the emergence of the omicron variant that sickened workers and upended some holiday gatherings.

Supply chain snarls and cargo delays also hurt some retailers’ inventories. Adobe tracked 6 billion out-of-stock messages online during the shopping season, a 10% increase from the prior year and up threefold from 2019.

“When we see these shortages happen which start to ripple online, availability becomes less across the board and choices become less,” Vivek Pandya, senior digital insights manager at Adobe, said in an interview. “If you have less choice, then the price will tick up.”

Online holiday spending grew at least 13% in each of the six shopping seasons prior to the last one, including a 32% year-over-year jump in 2020, according to Adobe. Total e-commerce spending was just $70.1 billion in 2014, the earliest data provided by the company.

“The growth that we were able to build on to last season really helped kind of showcase that there’s definitely entrenched behaviors in terms of online spend,” Pandya said.

Last year’s deals were less compelling than in prior years. For example, electronics were discounted 8% compared to 21% in 2020. Computer prices were down 10% compared to 22% the year before. One exception was for apparel and toys, where discounts were better than they were in 2020.

Adobe on Wednesday also released inflation data that showed online prices increased 3.1% in December, the 19th consecutive month of year-over-year increases. That’s still much lower than the overall level of consumer price inflation in the U.S.

“As consumers contend with higher offline prices for everything from gas to rent, they are finding that e-commerce is still a less expensive option when it comes to goods like toys, electronics, and even jewelry,” Patrick Brown, Adobe’s vice president of growth marketing and insights, said in a statement.

    RELATED CONTENT

    RELATED VIDEOS

    Supply Chains in Crisis E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Retail
    • Related Articles

      Projected 4.6 Percent Growth in Container Ship Capacity Is 'Slowest' Rate in More Than 25 Years

      U.S. Shoppers Set Record for Holiday Spending in 2024

      Analysts Split on Strength of 2007 Holiday Online Spending

    • Related Directories

      Tecsys, Inc.

    Bloomberg

    Michigan, Canada Plan Opening of Bridge Trump Threatened to Block

    More from this author

    Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

    Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

    Featured Product

    Popular Stories

    • GIST-webinar-DecisionPoint.png

      From Fragmented Tools to Unified Workflows: How to Transform Field Operations

    • A LARGE AIRCRAFT BEARING THE LUFTHANSA LOG FLIES ABOVE FLUFFLY CLOUDS

      787-9 Dreamliner’s Nose Collapses on Runway

      Air Cargo
    • A visualization of a world map with lines connecting countries, interposed in the sky above a cityscape along the water, with the whole image tinted light blue

      OECD Warns of Long-Lasting Global Economic Damage from Iran War

      Global Trade & Economics
    • Blue-Diamonds-Integrated-Business-Planning-Journey---A-Case-Study.png

      Watch: Blue Diamond Growers’ IBP Journey With SAP: A Case Study

      Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • US Treasury Check with Tariff Stamp

      Trump Attempts to Halt Tariff Refunds

      Global Trade & Economics

    Digital Edition

    2026 esg cover main scb q2 2026 cover

    SupplyChainBrain 2026 ESG Guide: ESG — The Supply Chain’s Biggest Secret

    VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

    Case Studies

    • Recycled Tagging Fasteners: Small Changes Make a Big Impact

    • A GRAPHIC SHOWING MULTIPLE FORMS OF SHIPPING, WITH A HUMAN STANDING AT THE CENTER, TOUCHING A SYMBOLIC MAP OF THE WORLD

      Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

    • A GRAPHIC OF INTERLACING HONEYCOMBED ELEMENTS REPRESENTING GLOBAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS

      Moving Robots Site-to-Site

    • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

    • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

    Visit Our Sponsors

    4flow Arkieva Blue Yonder
    Carton Cloud CoEnterprise Dassault
    Duravant E2Open General Logistics Systems
    Hy-Tek iGPS Korber
    Lyngsoe Procurability Quinyx
    SAP Sikick Systech
    S&P Global Mobility TADA TransImpact
    US Bank Werner Enterprises WSI
    • More From SCB
      • Featured Content
      • Video Library
      • Think Tank Blog
      • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
      • Whitepapers
      • On-Demand Webinars
      • Upcoming Webinars
    • Digital Offerings
      • Digital Issue
      • Subscribe
      • Manage Email Preferences
      • Newsletters
    • Resources
      • Events Calendar
      • 2026 Event Coverage
      • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
      • Supplier Directory
      • Case Study Showcase
      • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
      • 100 Great Partners Form
    • SCB Corporate
      • Advertise on SCB.COM
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact Us
      • Data Sharing Opt-Out

    All content copyright ©2026 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing