Spending Spree
It was a lucrative Cyber Week for Uncle Sam.
Shoppers were feeling festive, dropping a record $10.8 billion online on Black Friday (up 10% from last year) and another estimated $13.2 billion on Cyber Monday (up 6%). The biggest loser was in-store shopping (down 8%), while the biggest winners were retail behemoths Walmart and Amazon (obviously).
But they’ve got competition. TikTok shop is not-so-secretly eyeing Amazon’s throne, winning over sellers by offering lower fees and catching customers through livestream shopping events offering fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products to the possibly-banned-soon platform’s 170 million users.
Meanwhile, in a theater near you, sales defied gravity. Alongside “Glicked” (“Wicked” + “Gladiator II”), “Moana II” sales sailed $100 million past expectations, contributing to a record-shattering $420 million Thanksgiving weekend for box offices.
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Verse to consider when you’re fighting an insatiable desire for more… “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13 (CSB) (read full passage)