The 2024 Black Friday weekend once again saw record e-commerce sales
- Cyber Monday spending will reach $13.3 billion in 2024, while the season total will be $240.8 billion
- US consumers spent $15.8 million per minute at its peak
- Generative AI is starting to play a larger role in purchasing decisions
US consumers have boosted spending on Cyber Monday to $13.3 billion by 2024, making it the biggest event in history and exceeding initial forecasts by more than $100 million, new figures claim.
AdobeThe company’s analysis showed that sales increased 7.3% year-on-year, meaning Cyber Monday has now become the biggest online shopping day of the year, building on the hype of the previous Black Friday deals.
In the two hours between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. alone, American shoppers spent a whopping $15.8 million every minute, or about $1.9 billion in 120 minutes.
The report claimed that the five-day ‘Cyber Week’ of 2024 – starting on Thanksgiving and ending on Cyber Monday – generated $41.1 billion in revenue, up 8.2% year-over-year. Current forecasts indicate that the two-month holiday season, from November 1 to December 31, will generate $240.8 billion in sales. If true, this would represent an annual increase of 8.4%, but this season sales are already at $131.5 billion, an increase of 9.0%.
Continued difficult economic conditions have caused some consumers to think twice about their spending, but generous discounts have countered this and kept spending levels high. Electronics had an average depreciation of 30.1%, toys of 26.1% and clothing of 23.2%.
While the true power of artificial intelligence has yet to be realized outside the office, GenAI-powered chatbots have surprisingly helped consumers make purchasing decisions more than ever this year, increasing traffic to retail sites by a whopping 1,950%. Social media influencers also saw their revenue share increase 6.8% year over year.
Most consumers (57%) purchased via mobile, with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services accounting for $991.2 million in transactions – approximately 7.5% of Cyber Monday purchases from a financial perspective.
“The early discounts were so strong that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming the ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of great holiday deals,” said Vivek Pandya, chief analyst, Adobe Digital Insights.
Looking ahead, Adobe predicts that discounts will become less attractive through December 2024, but key categories such as electronics, toys and appliances will likely still deliver healthy savings, allowing shoppers to purchase higher ticket items and increasing overall spending.