- Adobe Analytics data shows record holiday season spending online, with Cyber Monday growing 7.3% year-over-year (YoY) to $13.3 billion, and Cyber Week up 8.2% YoY to $41.1 billion
- 57% of online sales came through a mobile device on Cyber Monday, an all-time high that represents $7.6 billion in online spending, up 13.3% YoY
- Generative AI-powered chat bots are impacting how consumers shop online, with traffic to retail sites on Cyber Monday up 1,950% from the year prior
SAN JOSE — December 3, 2024 — Today, Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) released online shopping data for the 2024 holiday season covering Cyber Week, the five-day shopping period from Thanksgiving through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Based on Adobe Analytics data, the report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing commerce transactions online, covering over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Adobe Analytics is relied upon by the majority of the top 100 internet retailers in the U.S.* to deliver, measure and personalize shopping experiences online.
Consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, up 7.3% YoY, and surpassing Adobe’s initial projection of $13.2 billion. In the peak hours of 8 pm to 10 pm, consumers spent $15.8 million every minute. Cyber Monday remains the biggest online shopping day of all time, as shoppers took advantage of bigger-than-expected discounts in categories such as electronics (peaking at 30.1% off listed price), toys (26.1%), apparel (23.2%), televisions (21.8%), and computers (21.5%).
Cyber Week (the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) brought in $41.1 billion online overall, up 8.2% YoY. It was bolstered by record spending online during Thanksgiving ($6.1 billion, up 8.8% YoY), Black Friday ($10.8 billion, up 10.2% YoY) and over the weekend of Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 ($10.9 billion, up 5.8% YoY). Adobe expects the full holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024) to hit $240.8 billion, up 8.4% YoY.
Deals are expected to linger in the weeks ahead. After Cyber Week, discounts will come down from their peaks, but shoppers can still find good bargains through December 2024 in computers (peaking at 18% off listed price), toys (18%), electronics (17%), televisions (17%), apparel (17%), sporting goods (16%), and appliances (14%).
“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,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights. “Early discounts were strong enough that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier on during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of big holiday deals.”
E-commerce category winners included toys, appliances, and electronics
On Cyber Monday, toys were a clear winner, with online sales growing 680% compared to an average day in October 2024. Other categories with strong demand included personal care (online sales up 530%), jewelry (up 478%), appliances (up 464%), electronics (up 452%), and apparel (up 392%).
Top sellers on Cyber Monday included toys such as Elf on the Shelf dolls, Harry Potter Toys and figurines, card and board games, stuffed animals and dolls, LEGO City sets, craft and science kits, and 100 years of Disney limited edition figurine packs. Top selling gaming consoles included PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch OLED, and Meta Quest, and top games included Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, various Zelda Games, NBA 2k25, and Super Smash Bros. Other top sellers on Cyber Monday included computers and laptops, digital cameras, televisions, Bluetooth headphones and speakers, skin care sets and makeup products, discounted apparel, electric scooters and bikes, gift cards, jewelry, and smart watches.
Additional Cyber Monday Insights
- Mobile Shopping Dominates: On Cyber Monday, 57% of online sales came through a mobile device, representing $7.6 billion in spend (up 13.3% YoY). Mobile shopping has ramped up considerably in recent years, as consumers become comfortable transacting on smaller screens. Back in the 2019 holiday season, just 33% of Cyber Monday online sales came through a mobile device.
- Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Hits Milestone: BNPL usage hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday, driving $991.2 million in spend (up 5.5% YoY), as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets. The vast majority of BNPL transactions are happening on a mobile device, at 75.2% share on Cyber Monday.
- Shoppers Embrace Generative AI: Chat bots, powered by generative AI, have made a mark on the holiday season. On Cyber Monday, traffic to retail sites from chat bots (shoppers clicking on a link to a retail site) increased by 1,950% compared to the year prior. While the base of users remains modest, the uptick shows the value chat bots are playing as a shopping assistant for consumers to find deals or to quickly locate products.
- Social Influencers Rise in Prominence: Adobe tracks how much marketing channels are driving consumers to shop on U.S. retail sites. In ‘affiliates and partners’, which includes social media influencers, the share of revenue came in at 20.3% on Cyber Monday, up an impressive 6.8% YoY. Adobe’s data also showed that influencers are converting shoppers (individuals making a purchase after seeing influencer content) 6 times more than social media overall.
2024 holiday season off to a strong start
Season-to-date (Nov. 1 to Dec. 2, 2024), consumers have spent a total of $131.5 billion online, up 9.0% YoY. Mobile shopping has driven a 53.1% share of online sales so far, representing $69.8 billion in spend, up 14.1% YoY.
Over half of online spend so far this season has been driven by three categories including electronics ($30.1 billion, up 10.6% YoY), apparel ($24.6 billion, up 9.5% YoY), and furniture ($16.2 billion, up 6.6% YoY). Other e-commerce categories with notable growth so far this season include grocery ($11.5 billion, up 13.8% YoY), sporting goods ($5.2 billion, up 6.3% YoY), cosmetics ($4.8 billion, up 8.1% YoY), and toys ($4.4 billion, up 5.7% YoY).
Strong discounts this season have also driven shoppers to purchase higher-ticket items in categories such as electronics, appliances, and sporting goods—propelling e-commerce growth as a result. So far this season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 2, 2024), the share-of-units-sold for the most expensive goods has increased by 28%. Across categories, this figure was up 86% in electronics, up 63% in sporting goods, up 59% in appliances, up 33% in personal care, and up 21% in toys.
Impact of inflation
Strong consumer spending online continues to be driven by net-new demand and not higher prices. Adobe’s Digital Price Index shows e-commerce prices have fallen consecutively for 26 months (down 2.9% YoY in Oct. 2024). Adobe figures are not adjusted for inflation, but if online deflation were factored in, growth in consumer spend would be even stronger.
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