Cyber Monday online sales hit new record of $13.3 billion
Cyber Monday outperformed expectations and remains the biggest online shopping day of all time.
According to Adobe Analytics data, U.S. consumers spent $13.3 billion online during Cyber Monday, up 7.3% year-over-year and surpassing Adobe’s initial projection of $13.2 billion. In the peak hours of 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, Adobe analysis indicates consumers spent $15.8 million online every minute.
Cyber Monday marked the conclusion of what Adobe tracked as a successful Cyber Week (five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday), which brought in $41.1 billion online overall, up 8.2% year-over-year.
This five-day period encompassed record spending online during Thanksgiving ($6.1 billion, up 8.8% year-over-year), Black Friday ($10.8 billion, up 10.2% year-over-year) and over the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 ($10.9 billion, up 5.8% year-over-year). Adobe expects online spending for the full holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31) to hit $240.8 billion, up 8.4% year-over-year.
[READ MORE: Black Friday online sales break records]
Product categories with especially strong online sales on Cyber Monday included toys (up 680% compared to an average day in October 2024), personal care (online sales up 530%), jewelry (up 478%), appliances (up 464%), electronics (up 452%) and apparel (up 392%).
Top-selling online items on Cyber Monday included computers and laptops, digital cameras, televisions, Bluetooth headphones and speakers, skin care sets and makeup products, discounted apparel, electric scooters and bikes, gift cards, jewelry and smart watches.
Season-to-date (Nov. 1 to Dec. 2, 2024), U.S. consumers have spent a total of $131.5 billion online, up 9% year-over-year. Mobile shopping has driven a 53.1% share of online sales so far, representing $69.8 billion in spend, up 14.1% year-over-year.
Adobe’s Digital Price Index shows e-commerce prices have fallen consecutively for 26 months (down 2.9% year-over-year in October 2024). Adobe figures are not adjusted for inflation, but if online deflation were factored in, its analysis indicates growth in consumer spend would be even stronger.
Other findings
- On Cyber Monday, Adobe data indicates 57% of online sales came through a mobile device, representing $7.6 billion in spend (up 13.3% year-over-year). Only 33% of Cyber Monday online sales came through a mobile device in 2019.
- Buy now, pay later (BNPL) usage hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $991.2 million in spend (up 5.5% year-over-year). The vast majority of BNPL transactions occurred on a mobile device, with 75.2% share on Cyber Monday.
On Cyber Monday, traffic to retail sites from generative AI-based chat bots (shoppers clicking on a link to a retail site) increased by 1,950%.
"While Cyber Monday remained the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day, year-over-year growth was stronger on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday," said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. "Early discounts were strong enough that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier on during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of big holiday deals."
Salesforce: Cyber Monday online sales grow 2% in U.S.
Salesforce analysis also indicates Cyber Monday online sales hit new heights, although its figures were not quite as robust as Adobe’s. According to Salesforce, U.S. Cyber Monday sales totaled $12.8 billion, up 2% year-over-year, while global online sales rose 3% year-over-year to $49.7 billion.
These figures came in lower than Salesforce’s initial estimates that Cyber Monday would drive and $13.5 billion in U.S. online sales and $51 billion in global online sales.
In total, Salesforce data indicates Cyber Week garnered $76 billion in U.S. online sales, representing 7% year-over-year growth, as well as $314.9 billion in global online sales (up 6% year-over-year).
Other Salesforce Cyber Monday findings include:
- Online order volume grew 2% in the U.S. and 4% globally.
- The use of generative AI and agent features grew 26% week-over-week from the previous Monday.
- Mobile messages were up 15% year-over-year while email sends on Cyber Monday were down 2% from the prior year.
- On Cyber Monday, U.S. mobile traffic share was 74% (down from 75% the previous year) and mobile order share was 60% (down from 61% in 2023).
- Mobile drew $7.68 billion of online sales in the U.S.
"Cyber Monday was a day for splurge purchases with luxury handbags and apparel categories seeing incredible growth," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights, Salesforce. "Throughout the weekend, retailers sweetened their discounts, enticing shoppers to wait for better deals before making purchases on higher-ticket items."
