Unlike last year's holiday season, when we still could feel the consequences of the pandemic, this year apparently is set for success and ground-breaking stats!

The deets: According to Adobe Analytics, this Black Friday, U.S. shoppers spent $9.12 billion online, which is a 2.3% increase compared to last year. And according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, the total (both online and in-store) Black Friday YoY U.S. sales climbed a whopping 12% (excluding automative)!

"On the heels of two very atypical holiday seasons, 2022 is showing signs of normalcy. Well, as much normalcy that a holiday season with economic clouds hanging over it can give us," said Bruce Williams, Head of Performance Marketing at Dentsu Media U.S.

Another 17% rise compared to the same day last year was noted by Shopify's merchants, who generated $3.36 billion in sales.

And that's not all! 48% of all online Black Friday purchases happened on a smartphone, which is a spike of 44% from last year. This just shows us that consumers are relying more and more on their phones when doing online purchases.

According to Vivek Pandya, Lead Analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, "As Black Friday hit record spending online, we're also seeing more prominent signs of a budget-conscious consumer this year. Shoppers are embracing the buy now, pay later payment method more this year to be able to buy desired gifts for family and friends."

From November 19 till November 25, orders using the "buy now, pay later" payment plan increased by 78%, which is a significant rise compared to the week before.

And what does the Cyber Week data show? Find out in the next edition of the Weekly! :)

Zoom in: Google recently announced that next year its Privacy Sandbox features (Google's plan for marketing without third-party cookies) are going to be released on Android phones. However, publishers and marketers have been able to participate in the trials on desktop Chrome browsers since April and prepare for a future where targeting will not be the same as we know it now.

Google still hasn't announced when they are planning to officially deprecate Android AdID, the mobile equivalent of the cookie. Anyway, their tactic has been well-received by the mobile community and it has been identified as a better option than Apple's SKAD network (Apple's privacy-safe option for attribution), which marketers found not as transparent and flexible.

A Google spokesperson said, "Part of the reason we are releasing the beta early next year is so developers can kick off their testing efforts and help us further refine the APIs before they're finalized."

But it's not all roses!

Critics are worried about how much the user's privacy is really improved with Google's new features. As an anonymous browser engineer puts it, "You talk to the Googlers involved, and they tell you about the technology they've built and how it's going to facilitate a bunch of future changes. Then the question is 'why aren't you doing the easy stuff?' You let Facebook break web browsing and remove all user privacy."

Is Google really better than Apple? It definitely remains to be seen.

For more insights, check out this article.

Although Thanksgiving is already behind us, we thought of sharing this SUPER cute Thanksgiving email with you! This holiday is a wonderful opportunity to remind your subscribers how happy you are that they are part of your community.

A sincere message that shows love and warmth always goes a long way! It shows that you care about your subscribers and it is a nice touch indeed. The Better Creative made a heartwarming GIF which is used as a hero and used several details that are typical for this holiday. As always, they are right on point with the design!

Hope this email warms your heart as much as it warmed ours!

Source: The Better Creative