Even though the entire nation is in a festive period, Black Friday sales this year didn’t turn out as expected and according to a report by Adobe Analytics, shoppers didn’t spend so much this year compared to the previous.

According to the report, online shoppers spent about US$8.9 billion this year which was slightly lower compared to the previous US$9 billion spent back in 2020.

The report further suggested that the slight drop may have been due to an uptick in early spending – because retail stores had started sales and promotions since October.

By the time shoppers will make their online purchases during Black Friday, an estimated 44.4% of those sales were made from a smartphone making it a 10.6% increase from the previous year according to Adobe.

“For the first time ever, Black Friday saw a reversal of the growth trend of past years,” said Vivek Pandya, the lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights. “Shoppers are being strategic in their gift shopping, buying much earlier in the season and being flexible about when they shop to make sure they get the best deals.”

Another theory is the issue with the global supply chain. Products running out of stock had increased by 124% since January 2020 which makes it even harder for shoppers to find what they want.

Electronic appliances are said to have been hit the most due to the global chip supply shortages.

Among the most popular tech products on Black Friday were the Nintendo Switch and Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2, while Just Dance 2022, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, AirPods, the 10.2-inch iPad were all hits on Saturday.

So far, shoppers spent over $3 billion on 19 days throughout this holiday season. Last year around this time, Adobe only counted five days where spending exceeded $3 billion.

Shoppers might also be trying to keep their money considering the unpredictable year ahead due to inflation and other economic issues.