As the saying goes, records were made to be broken, and the all-time sales day for ecommerce was no exception.
Cyber Monday hit a record $10.8 billion in the U.S., up 15.1% from $9.4 billion in 2019, making it the largest online shopping day in U.S. history, according to Adobe Analytics. Mobile commerce slipped slightly from Black Friday, accounting for 37% of ecommerce sales vs. 40% on the other mega shopping day.
Black Friday itself was no slouch, hitting a record $9 billion in ecommerce sales according to Adobe, up 21.6% from 2019’s figure of $7.4 billion.
The seasonal ecommerce sales total to date since Nov. 1 has crossed the $100 billion threshold nine days faster than in 2019, Adobe said, hitting $106.5 billion, up 27.7% from this time last year.
While the numbers have been record-breaking, Adobe has been doing some downward revision. As recently as last Wednesday, it was projecting Cyber Monday would hit $12.7 billion, a 35.3% increase. It has also lowered its prediction for the entire holiday season, from $189 billion to $184 billion, still a 30% increase.
During the so-called “golden hours of retail” (7 p.m.-11 p.m. PST), U.S. consumers spent $2.7 billion online, Adobe reported, accounting for 25% of Cyber Monday’s total. The peak hour between 8 p.m.-9 p.m. PST hit a purchase rate of $12 million per minute. The “golden hours” term is based on a consumer behavioral phenomenon of rushing after last-minute deals due to FOMO (fear of missing out).
“Cyber Monday continued to dominate the holiday shopping season, becoming the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history, despite early discounts from retailer,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights in a statement. “Throughout the remainder of the holiday season, we expect to see record sales continue and curbside pickup to gain even more momentum as shoppers avoid crowds and potential shipping delays.”
The strongest discounting on Cyber Monday was in computers, at an average of 28% off, followed by sporting goods (20%), toys (19%), appliances (20%) and electronics (27%), Adobe reported. Discounts are expected to decrease between 5%-10% across most categories between now and Christmas, the company said.
As it has been since the lockdowns started in mid-March, curbside pickup was extremely popular with shoppers on Cyber Monday, its usage up 30% from 2019, Adobe reported. For last minute ecommerce purchases, it was listed as the most popular checkout option by 37% of shoppers, trailing only one-day shipping (45%).
Adobe’s figures are based on analysis of one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 80 of the 100 largest retailers in the U.S., run through its Sensei AI and machine learning framework.