Cyber Monday Spending Statistics – Bargains Galore Online

Cyber Monday is like Black Friday but without the crowds, queues and madness. So how much can you save online?

The Black Friday sales are a great shopping day where you can pick up some sweet bargains.

However, the queues, crowds, and general mayhem can also make it a total nightmare, with many of us deciding that the discounts just aren't worth the bother.

So for those that hate Black Friday (myself included!), Cyber Monday is a dream.

As you can pick up similarly good deals online and all from the comfort and serenity of your own home.

So we thought we'd take a look at the latest Cyber Monday statistics and shopping trends to get an insight into what people are spending and how popular it has become.

And to do this we analysed various surveys and reports, including those from the following retail companies and organisations, to get an idea of what Cyber Monday is all about.

Cyber Monday Spending Highlights

Before we go into more detail on what was in the various surveys and reports, here's a Cyber Monday spending infographic featuring the key findings.

How Popular Is Cyber Monday?

According to Adobe's Holiday Shopping Trends report from 2019, 51% of shoppers prefer to shop on big discount days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

While the 2018 Holiday survey from Deloitte found that 73% of people were planning to shop on Cyber Monday.

This could be due to the great online discount rates available on this day (averaging 31% off), and the fact that many retailers offer free shipping (83% of Cyber Monday orders ship for free) (Salesforce).

So the National Retail Federation finding that a whopping 83.3 million Americans shopped online during Cyber Monday in 2019 isn't surprising. 

What is a little surprising is that this was less than the 93.2 million people who shopped online on Black Friday (National Retail Federation).

However, it was still a massive day of online sales, with Amazon saying Cyber Monday 2019 was the biggest single shopping day in the company's history based on the number of items ordered worldwide (Amazon).

And even though the main focus is on online deals and discounts, Cyber Monday also remains a popular shopping day in store, with 21.8 million Americans going out to shop too (National Retail Federation).

How Much Do We Spend On Cyber Monday?

$9.4 billion dollars was spent online during Cyber Monday in 2019, which was the biggest day for online sales in history (Adobe). 

This was up 19.7% from the previous years total of $7.9 billion and was the top performer for online sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, with Black Friday the next best with a total of $7.4 billion in sales (Adobe).

And if we go with the National Retail Federation's assertion that there were 83.3 million online shoppers on this day, the average spend would work out at $112.85 per person.

This is just a rough estimate on our part, but it isn't too far off the average spend figure of $99 per person quoted by Salesforce.

These figures do seem to vary depending on which source you trust, with the previous year's Cyber Monday projections by Deloitte estimating that the average online spend would be $170, while Monetate put the average online order at $137.79.

While in store shoppers were planning to spend an average of $74 per person (Deloitte).

The biggest outlier was the Black Friday survey, where shoppers said they planned to spend $431 per person on Cyber Monday.  

Which Devices Are We Buying On?

Traditionally people have mostly done their online shopping on laptops and desktop computers, as these have been easier to research items on, have had better security, and also an easier checkout process.

And the majority of shoppers on Cyber Monday in 2019 still shopped this way, with 61% of sales being made on desktop (Adobe).

However, there has been a massive rise in smartphone shoppers in recent times, with 32% of Cyber Monday sales being completed on phones (Adobe).

In fact, $3 billion dollars was spent using smartphones. This accounted for 33% of total revenue and was up a massive 46% from the previous year (Adobe).

The reasons for this increase in popularity in smartphone shopping could be down to convenience, people buying on their breaks from work, and improved smartphone checkout times and security.

However, shopping on a tablet remains much less popular, with only 7% of Cyber Monday shoppers making purchases this way (Adobe).

When Are The Best Times To Shop On Cyber Monday?

Online discounts are great on Cyber Monday, with an average discount rate of 31% compared to 28% on Black Friday (Salesforce).

But when do you need to be online to grab these bargains?

Well, people spend the most between 7pm and 11pm on Cyber Monday, with 30% of all sales revenue ($2.8 billion) for the entire day happening between these hours (Adobe).

However, this could be due to a fear of missing out on deals as the day comes to a close, rather than any better deals or discounts during these times (Adobe).

As sales remain consistently high from 8am and throughout the day, meaning you can log on at any time to do your Cyber Monday shopping.

Just get online early if you think there's a chance that the item you want might run out of stock.

And the best way to make the most of Cyber Monday shopping is to keep an eye on your favourite retailers in the weeks leading up to it to see if they have any specific offers that are only available at certain times.

What Are We Buying On Cyber Monday?

There isn't as much specific data on what people are buying on Cyber Monday, compared to more detailed information which is available for sales on Black Friday.

However, one survey put clothing as the top category that people buy during both the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, with 41% of shoppers planning to buy clothes in 2019 (Black Friday).

This was followed by home goods/small appliances (38%), tablets, laptops, PCs, or TVs (32%), smart home gadgets and tech (30%), toys (25%), and travel or experiences (12%) (Black Friday).

While Amazon listed their top 4 selling categories on Cyber Monday 2019 as being toys, fashion, things for the home, and health and personal care items (Amazon).

Televisions are a popular Cyber Monday choice, as it's the best day to grab a discounted rate on them at an average of 19% off (Adobe).

While good discounts were also available on computers (18% off) and toys (17% off) (Adobe).

This was reflected in Adobe's listings of the top 5 items that were bought online during Cyber Monday being LOL Surprise dolls, Frozen 2 toys, the Nintendo Switch, VR devices, and Samsung TVs.

Also, many people use the Cyber Monday sales to begin their holiday shopping, with 73% of planned spending on goods over the Thanksgiving weekend being for gifts and holiday related items (ICSC).

Rounding Up