The days of venturing out to Best Buy or Walmart on Thanksgiving night to grab doorbusters on must-have holiday gifts are done, thanks in part to a post-pandemic push to give retail workers a break. But we’re still shopping, swapping physical carts for virtual ones.
Cyber Monday shoppers spent $12.4 billion this week, a 9.6% increase from last year, according to stats released today from Adobe Analytics. During peak hours—10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern—people spent $15.7 million every minute. "Cyber Monday smashed online records," Adobe says.
Overall, the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday brought in $38 billion, up 7.8% year over year. Since Nov. 1, shoppers have spent $109.3 billion, up 7.3% from 2022, with electronics driving much of those purchases at $21.7 billion.
Those looking for a new gadget were able to score about 31% off the listed price during Cyber Monday, versus 25% in 2022. Breaking that down, computers were about 24% off on average, while TVs saw a 19% dip.
Online sales of electronics were up 103% on Cyber Monday compared to an average day in October 2023, Adobe says. But people were most eager to snap up apparel, with online clothing sales spiking 189%, followed by appliances (166%), toys (140%), and furniture (129%).
What were people buying? Shoppers went right for the top consoles—Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch—and picked up games including Spiderman 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, NBA 2k24, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Adobe also saw brisk sales on smartwatches, activity trackers, and Bluetooth headphones.
All this gear isn’t cheap, and many shopper took advantage of payment plans. “On Cyber Monday, ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) usage hit an all-time high, contributing $940 million in online spend, up a staggering 42.5% YoY,” Adobe says. Since Nov. 1, BNPL has driven $8.3 billion in sales, up 17% from last year.
When shoppers made a purchase, meanwhile, they were most likely doing it from a mobile device. “Thanksgiving set a new bar for mobile shopping, with 59% of online sales coming through a smartphone (compared to 55% in 2022),” Adobe says. “Usage remained high across Cyber Week, with smartphones driving 51.8% of online sales (up from 49.9% in 2022).”
Curbside pick-up was less popular this year; buyers used this option for 12.7% of online orders compared to 14.8% last year.
Adobe notes that its “numbers are not adjusted for inflation, but if online inflation were factored in, there would be even higher growth in topline consumer spend.”
If you're still on the hunt for a deal, some of our top Cyber Monday discounts are still live.
