Holiday Shopping Will Be Different This Year, Adobe Predicts: AI-Aided Purchases Will Jump 520%

One of the biggest increases in the last year is the concentration of spending around sales events. The five-day period, including Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, is expected to generate nearly a fifth of sales (17.2%), up from 6.3% last year.

Yet the focus on deal days comes even as retailers hold discount rates — and many consumers are looking for more than the lowest price.

Adobe expects retailers to offer up to 28% off the listed price, which is comparable to last year’s rate. At the same time, consumers appear ready to trade up this year, with the estimated share of units sold for the most expensive products up 56% in sporting goods, 52% in electronics and 39% in appliances.

But that doesn’t mean consumers won’t stock up on cash to finance their purchases; BNPL is expected to drive $20.2 billion in online lines, which grew 11% year-over-year, according to Adobe.

• BNPL providers such as PayPal are doing their part to drive this demand with new offers such as 5% cash back on BNPL purchases until the end of the year.
• The company cited a data point that more than 80% of shoppers who have used or considered using BNPL are open to using it this holiday season.

Shoppers are also on track to continue to rely on AI-powered services for their purchases this year. Adobe estimates a 520% ​​jump in AI traffic, and it predicts that activity would peak around Thanksgiving, with categories such as toys, electronics and jewelry seeing the biggest boost from AI services.

While Adobe’s forecast shows slowing growth, the online-focused report is even more optimistic than those reports looking at overall sales. For example, Deloitte’s holiday forecast expects growth between 2.9% and 3.4% as an increase in discretionary income offsets economic uncertainty.

This report was originally published by Brew retail.