Cyber Weekend 2022 came with mixed expectations. Retail sales declined for the first time in October, dropping 0.2%. Inflation, the rising cost of living, interest rates… it’s not a pretty picture.

Australian Retailers Association (ARA) chief executive, Paul Zahra, predicted a total of $6.2 billion worth of retail trade between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (that’s a predicted increase of $200 million YoY), and commented that “in fact about 25% of sales of the whole Christmas shopping [period] will be done in this one week”.

A recent study by Monash University claims that traditional bricks and mortar retail stores have surged in popularity post-pandemic, with Australians preferring to shop instore across most product categories including apparel, personal care and household goods.

With all this in mind, how exactly did Cyber Weekend 2022 shape up?

We can report that order volume through the Comestri Platform was up 16% YoY. Interestingly, the greatest daily YoY increase was the Saturday and Sunday of Cyber Weekend; up 19% and 18% respectively.

While it certainly felt like the deals started earlier, in reality we only saw orders begin to rise just one day earlier than in 2021.

So was it a bang or a bust? Shopify is reporting sales of $7.5 billion USD ($11.16 billion AUD) from independent businesses across the globe – a 19% YoY increase. Australia came in fourth in total spend. BigCommerce is also reporting a 32% YoY growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) for Cyber Weekend 2022. If this is the case across most platforms, I would definitely say it’s a win.

Comestri CEO Frank Nesci commented:

“We’ve seen solid results over this year’s Cyber Weekend, with a 16% increase. It’s been a tough few years for retailers but where we’ve seen real success is the retailers that have embraced technology, and created an exceptional customer experience. They’ve approached retail as a whole, not as many siloed parts, connecting the many moving pieces and creating something remarkable.”

Let’s work together.