Adobe Data Shows Record Cyber Monday with $9.2 Billion in Online Sales

$11 million spent every minute during peak shopping hour; smartphones contribute a record $3 billion in a single day.

Adobe today released its 2019 online shopping data for Cyber Monday and the holiday season overall. Cyber Monday is projected to hit $9.2B billion by the end of today and remains the largest online shopping day in the U.S, growing 16.9% year-over-year (YoY) as of 7:00 p.m. ET. The “golden hours of retail” (4 hours between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. ET) will drive 30 percent of all Cyber Monday revenue at $2.8 billion, as shoppers hit buy before deals run out. During the peak hour (11:00 p.m. ET- 12 a.m. ET), consumers will be spending $11 million on average every minute.

Online sales via smartphones hit a new record, accounting for 33% of Cyber Monday sales at $3.0 billion, which represents 46% growth YoY. Smartphones drove the majority of visits to retail sites at 54%, growing 19% YoY. Retailers have been firing on all cylinders, with BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store/curbside) services seeing tremendous growth at 43% YoY and giving shoppers speed and convenience, while creating new value with physical stores. Top sellers on Cyber Monday include Frozen 2 Toys, L.O.L Surprise Dolls, NERF products, Madden 20, Nintendo Switch, Jedi Fallen Order, Samsung TVs, Fire TV, Airpods and Air Fryers.

Additional findings include:

“Cyber Monday will generate a record-breaking $9.2 billion and become the first day in history where consumers spend more than $3 billion on smartphones.” said John Copeland, head of Marketing and Consumer Insights at Adobe. “Retailers unlocked sales earlier to combat a shorter shopping season, while continuing to drive up promotion of the big branded days including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Consumers capitalized on deals and ramped up spending, especially on smartphones, where activity increased on days when shoppers were snowed or rained in.”

The holiday season overall (Nov. 1 through Dec. 1) has generated $72.1 billion online to date, at 16.3% growth YoY (above Adobe’s forecast of 14.1%). With six fewer days between Cyber Monday and Christmas, retailers had to make up an estimated $1 billion in potential revenue loss, and earlier deals in the season have helped drive sales. Every day from Nov. 1 has surpassed $1 billion, with 12 days surpassing $2 billion. Thanksgiving drove $4.2 billion at 14.5% growth YoY, while Black Friday hit $7.4 billion at 19.6% growth YoY. Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30) and Super Sunday (Dec. 1) generated $7.4 billion at 15.4% growth YoY, as shoppers took advantage of early Cyber Monday deals.

Methodology

Adobe leverages Adobe Sensei, Adobe’s AI and machine learning technology, to identify retail insights from trillions of data points that flow through Adobe Analytics and Adobe Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud. Adobe analyzes one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 55 million SKUs and features 80 of the largest 100 U.S. web retailers – more than any other technology company.

Only Adobe’s analysis spans large, medium and small retailers across over 50 merchandise categories, powered by Adobe Analytics and Magento Commerce, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, to provide the industry’s most accurate view of online shopping in the U.S.