Despite a challenging economic environment, the 2022 festive shopping season exceeded projections, according to eCommerce intelligence from ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time digital payments solutions, which analyses millions of eCommerce transactions on an annual basis to assess year-over-year growth. From October through December 2022, eCommerce transactions saw a 21 per cent increase, beating estimates by 6 per cent.
Consumers spent more on gaming and travel, as both sectors saw a significant uptick in transaction volumes during Cyber Weekend 2022. The gaming sector experienced a 153 per cent increase in transaction value, and the travel sector experienced a 57 per cent increase. Meanwhile, the retail sector experienced a 4 per cent increase in volume over Cyber Weekend, driven by general retail, which saw a 14 per cent increase, and sports and athletic sales, which experienced a 13 per cent increase in transaction volume.
“Consumers upped their spending this holiday season despite increasing economic pressures,” explained Basant Singh, head of merchant segment, ACI Worldwide. “While inflation accounted for much of the year-over-year rise in holiday spending, our data shows a steady uptick in transactions, with many consumers buying goods and services via mobile devices, and in many cases using digital wallets as a preferred payment method. We expect to see these trends continue in 2023.”
Mobile shopping surged on Black Friday
Consumers used their smartphones to make key purchases as deals dropped over Cyber Weekend. In total, mobile devices drove a 17 per cent increase in transaction volume throughout the course of the weekend. 36 per cent of all transactions were processed via mobile devices during Black Friday. Cyber Monday played an equally significant role in driving the uptick in mobile usage, with transaction volumes over smartphone devices soaring by 43 per cent in comparison to last year.
eCommerce shopping is becoming more secure
Fraud attempts decreased by 0.5 per cent during the Q4 holiday shopping season. Mobile fraud attempts saw a decline of 0.6 per cent, and eWallets saw fraud attempts declining by 0.8 per cent. Merchants are increasingly investing in better fraud management and prevention capabilities, as many now look at fraud prevention as a revenue generator. As a result of added security measures by eWallet providers (i.e. biometric authentication, encryption, etc.), this category saw the biggest decline in fraud attempts.
Venturing in-store to save costs
Data from ACI finds that shoppers actively sought out Buy Online, Pick-Up In-Store (BOPIS) options as a cheaper alternative to shipping and waiting for products to deliver. Transaction values for BOPIS increased by 18 per cent, with the average ticket value (ATV) increasing by 26 per cent, or US$26.
Buy now, pay later options continue to lure holiday shoppers
The go-to payment method for Black Friday — BNPL — rose by 87 per cent, with the ATV increasing by 42 per cent, or US $57.
For high-value products, credit and debit cards were the top choice. Transactions for credit and debit cards experienced an 8 per cent increase, with the ATV climbing by 43 per cent, or US$49. eWallets saw a comparable increase in transaction volumes, rising by 32 per cent.
“Use of digital wallets during the last holiday season signals a broader trend that we expect to play out in the year ahead,” added Singh. “Consumers, especially younger shoppers, are embracing digital wallets as a mainstream payment method. More than half of consumers (52.7 per cent) used a digital wallet in 2021, according to our data. This represents a 33 per cent increase over the last five years.”
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