Consumers in the United States are browsing the Internet for online offers because they want to take advantage of the shopping marathon after Thanksgiving Cyber Monday.
Although e-commerce is now an integral part of many people’s normal routine and holiday shopping seasonCyber Monday — a term coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation — has become the biggest online shopping day of the year, thanks to the deals and hype the industry has created to drive it.
Adobe Analytics, which follows online shoppingexpects consumers to spend a record $13.2 billion on Monday, up 6.1% from last year. That would make it the season’s — and the year’s — biggest shopping day for e-commerce.
For several major retailers, Cyber Monday sales are a multi-day event that began over the Thanksgiving weekend. Amazon began its sales event on Saturday just after midnight pacific time. Target’s two-day discount offer on its website and app began overnight Sunday. Walmart rolled out its Cyber Monday deals for Walmart+ members on Sunday afternoon and opened them up to all shoppers three hours later at 8pm ET.
Consumer spending during Cyber Week – the five major shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday – provides a strong indication of how much shoppers are willing to spend for holidays.
Many American consumers are still experiencing sticker shock in the post-pandemic era inflation that left prices of many goods and services higher than three years ago. But retail despite this, they remained strong, and the economy did continued to grow at a healthy pace.
Simultaneously, credit card debt and wrongdoing are on the rise. More customers than ever are on the way to use “buy now, pay later” plans. this holiday season, allowing them to defer payments for holiday decorations, gifts and other items.
Many economists have also warned against President-elect Donald Trump’s plan impose customs duties next year on foreign goods coming into the United States would lead to higher prices on everything from food to clothes to cars.
The National Retail Federation expects holiday shoppers to spend more in stores and online this year than last year. But the pace of consumption growth will slow slightly, the trade group said, rising by 2.5% to 3.5% — compared with 3.9% in 2023.
A clear sense of consumer spending patterns over the holiday season won’t emerge until the government releases sales figures for the period, although preliminary data from other sources show some encouraging signs for retailers.
US shoppers spent $10.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 10.2% from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. It’s also more than double what consumers spent in 2017, when Black Friday attracted roughly $5 billion in online sales. Consumers also spent a record $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving, Adobe said.
A software company Salesforcewhich also tracks online shopping, estimated that Black Friday online sales totaled $17.5 billion in the U.S. and $74.4 billion globally.
E-commerce platform Shopify said its retailers made a record $5 billion in sales worldwide on Black Friday. At its peak, sales reached $4.6 million per minute — with the top categories by volume including apparel, cosmetics and fitness products, according to the Canadian company.
Toys, electronics, home, care and beauty were among the key drivers of holiday spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, according to Adobe. “Hot products” included. Lego sets, espresso machines, fitness trackers, makeup and skin care.
Other data showed brick-and-mortar stores saw fewer shoppers on Black Friday, highlighting how the huge crowds once synonymous with the day after Thanksgiving are now more than happy to shop from the comfort of their homes.
RetailNext, which measures in-store traffic in real time, reported that initial data showed that in-store traffic on Friday fell 3.2% in the US compared to last year, with the largest drop occurring in the Midwest.
Sensormatic Solutions, which also tracks store traffic, said its preliminary analysis showed that retail traffic on Black Friday was down 8.2% compared to 2023.
Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, noted that in-store traffic was spread across multiple days as many retailers offered generous discounts before and after Black Friday,
“Some of the extended Black Friday promotions did lead to a slightly weaker day of traffic than expected,” Gustafson said.
While physical items such as toys and electronics are always popular during the holiday season, experts note that consumers have turned more toward “experiential spending” in recent years, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
Jie Zhang, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, told The Associated Press ahead of the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend that he expects shoppers to “indulge a little more” when it comes to self-gifting.
