Cyber Monday was the biggest US online shopping day ever

By John Towfighi, CNN

(CNN) — $15.8 million every 60 seconds. That’s how much US consumers spent in two hours on Monday night, capping off a five-day spending spree that smashed previous records.

US consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, up 7.3% from the previous year, according to Adobe Analytics.

Concerns about inflation linger, but the holiday season’s sweetened discounts turned into increased spending. Consumers spent a record $41.1 billion across the five days beginning Thanksgiving Day, according to Adobe.

“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,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement.

Online spending on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday were up 8.8% and 10.2% year-over-year, respectively, according to Adobe. Early discounts from retailers encouraged people to buy earlier this year, Pandya said, with Cyber Monday becoming a sort of “last call” on holiday deals.

The company’s data projects that holiday spending from November 1 to December 31 will surpass $240 billion, up 8.4% from the previous year.

The record sales on Cyber Monday were boosted by US consumers shopping on their mobile devices, which accounted for $7.6 billion in spending. This year, 57% of online sales came through a mobile device, compared to 33% in 2019, as shopping on mobile phones has surged in popularity.

Toys remained the most popular items for sale, according to Adobe. Elf on the Shelf dolls, Lego sets and Harry Potter figurines were among the top-selling items on Cyber Monday.

Among other top sellers: consumer electronics. Shoppers picked up computers, headphones, speakers, electric scooters and smart watches. Gaming consoles including the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch OLED were also among the most popular items.

Discounts and deals reign supreme on Cyber Monday, and this year was no different. Discounts on apparel peaked at just over 23% off, while TVs and computers peaked at almost 22% off, according to Adobe. And the discounts might last: Adobe projects discounts of up to 18% off computers through the end of the year.

Consumer electronic sales were in focus after President-elect Donald Trump recently announced proposals for 25% across-the-board tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, in addition to further tariffs on China. About 78% of all consumer smartphones and 87% of consoles were imported from China in 2023, according to a report from the Consumer Technology Association.

“There’s very little in the consumer electronics space that is not imported,” Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said on the company’s earnings call last week. “The customer ends up bearing some of the cost of the tariffs. These are goods that people need, and higher prices are not helpful.”

In addition to electronics, discounts on jewelry, personal care products and clothing apparel also drew consumers in.

As shopping surged on mobile devices, more shoppers turned to social media influencers this year as well, according to Adobe. For US retail sites, the share of revenue from affiliates and partners like social media influencers was 20.3% on Cyber Monday, up almost 7% from the previous year.

Additionally, companies employed AI chatbots to assist consumers, like Amazon’s Rufus. Traffic to retail sites from chatbots increased by nearly 2,000% on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe.

“Buy now, pay later” programs also contributed nearly $1 billion in spending on Cyber Monday, a record high. About 75% of these types of transactions occurred through a mobile device.

Cyber Monday shopping wasn’t just confined to the US, either. Global sales reached $49.7 billion, up 3% from the previous year, according to data from Salesforce.

Salesforce painted a slightly different picture for US Cyber Monday, recording $12.8 billion in sales, up 2% from the previous year.

CNN’s Elisabeth Buchwald contributed to reporting.

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