Cyber Monday shopping on track for new record 

Cyber Monday is on its way to keeping its title as the biggest online shopping day of the year.  

Cyber Monday online sales are on track to hit $9.4 billion, up 18.9% over last year, according to preliminary data from Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at 80 of the top 100 U.S. online stores. In 2018, Cyber Monday sales hit $7.9 billion.

The spending is expected to continue well into the night. What Adobe calls the four “golden hours of retail” (10:00 pm – 2:00 am ET) will bring in 30% of the day’s revenue (about $2.8 billion) as shoppers look to buy before deals run out. It’s expected that $11 million will be spent per minute during the peak hour (11:00 pm – midnight ET).

A record $72.1 billion have been spent online to date (Nov. 1 – Dec.1) 11/1 – 12/1). According to Adobe, online spending is on track to hit $143.7 billion spent online for the full holiday season (Nov-Dec).

"Cyber Monday looks like it will solidify predictions that 2019 will be the year that digital eclipses in-store retail for the opening weekend of holiday shopping," commented Jon Reily, head of global commerce strategy at digital consultancy Publicis Sapient. "With more than $7 billion spent online on Friday and a projected $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday, retailers with strong digital offerings look to be solid winners headed into the contracted holiday season. “When the history is written about Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019 it will show that retailers who embrace digital strategies and offer services in both the digital and real world are the long-term winners."