Consumers in the United States are scouring the Internet for online offers as they look to take advantage of the post-Thanksgiving shopping marathon Cyber Monday.
Even though e-commerce is now an essential part of many people’s daily routines holiday shopping seasonCyber Monday – a term coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 – has become the biggest online shopping day of the year, thanks to the deals and hype the industry has created to fuel the day.
Adobe Analytics, which keeps track online shoppingexpects consumers to spend a record $13.2 billion on Monday, up 6.1% from last year. That would make it the biggest shopping day of the season and the year for e-commerce.
For several major retailers, a Cyber Monday sale is a day-long event that started over the Thanksgiving weekend. Amazon kicked off its sales event just after midnight Pacific time on Saturday. Target’s two-day discount offers on its website and app started Sunday night. Walmart introduced its Cyber Monday deals to Walmart+ members on Sunday afternoon and opened them up to all customers three hours later at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Consumer spending for Cyber Week – the five main shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday – provides a strong indication of how much consumers are willing to spend the holidays.
Many American consumers continue to suffer from sticker shock in the post-pandemic period inflation that left prices for many goods and services higher than three years ago. But retail nevertheless, it has remained strong, and so has the economy continued to grow at a healthy pace.
At the same time, credit card debt and delinquencies have increased. More shoppers than ever are also on their way to using it 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 about President-elect Donald Trump’s plan impose rates next year on foreign goods entering the United States lead to higher prices about everything from food to clothing and cars.
The National Retail Federation expects holiday shoppers to spend more this year both in stores and online than last year. But the pace of spending growth will slow slightly, the trade group said, growing 2.5% to 3.5% – up from 3.9% in 2023.
A clear picture of consumer spending patterns over the festive period will only emerge when the government releases sales data for the period, although preliminary data from other sources shows some encouraging signs for retailers.
U.S. shoppers spent $10.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 10.2% from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. That’s also more than double what consumers spent in 2017, when Black Friday brought in about $5 billion in online sales. Consumers also spent a record $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, Adobe said.
Software company Salesforce, which also tracks online shopping, estimated that Black Friday online sales totaled $17.5 billion in the U.S. and $74.4 billion worldwide.
E-commerce platform Shopify said its merchants raked in a record $5 billion in sales worldwide on Black Friday. At its peak, sales were $4.6 million per minute – with top categories by volume including apparel, cosmetics and fitness products, the Canadian company said.
According to Adobe, the categories of toys, electronics, home goods, self-care and beauty were among the top drivers of holiday spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. “Hot products” include Lego sets, espresso machines, fitness trackers, makeup and… skin care.
Other data showed that brick-and-mortar stores saw fewer customers on Black Friday, underscoring how the huge crowds once synonymous with the day after Thanksgiving are now eager to shop from the comfort of their homes.
RetailNext, which measures real-time foot traffic in stores, reported that initial data showed U.S. store traffic fell 3.2% on Friday from last year, with the biggest decline occurring in the Midwest.
Sensormatic Solutions, which also tracks store traffic, said a preliminary analysis showed Black Friday store traffic was down 8.2% from 2023.
Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, noted that store traffic spread over several days as many retailers offered generous discounts before and after Black Friday.
“Some of the extended Black Friday promotions ended up driving a little less traffic than expected,” Gustafson said.
While physical items like toys and electronics are always popular around the holidays, experts note that consumers have turned to more “experiential spending” in recent years, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
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 expected shoppers to “indulge themselves a little more” when it comes to gifting of itself. .
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AP Business Writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report from New York.