Cyber Monday Sees Nearly 20% YoY Online Sales Growth

Based on Adobe Analytics data, a record $9.4 billion was spent online on Cyber Monday, an increase of 19.7 percent year-over-year (YoY). In fact, yesterday was the largest online shopping day of all time in the U.S., beating last year’s $7.9 billion total on Cyber Monday. Mobile transactions helped drive yesterday's record e-commerce revenue, with $3.1 billion of Cyber Monday online sales coming from smartphones, representing the highest ever YoY dollar growth for this device. A record $81.5 billion has been spent online so far this holiday season (Nov. 1-Dec. 2), representing a 14 percent growth compared to the $71.5B spent during the same time period last year.

Total Retail's Take: Consumers are continuing their migration online to do their holiday shopping, with Cyber Monday's results being the latest example of this trend. Add in a relatively strong economy, low unemployment rate, and high consumer confidence, and it's not surprising to see record spending on Cyber Monday. Here are some more Cyber Monday stats from Adobe Analytics:

• Golden Hours of Retail: During the hours of 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. Eastern, consumers spent a record $2.9 billion, a 24 percent growth YoY. These final hours of Cyber Week discounts became even more crucial for retailers this year, as consumers hit “Buy” on those time-sensitive deals, capturing 31 percent of the day’s revenue in just four hours.
• Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS): Season to date, BOPIS has grown 40.9 percent YoY, with consumers 20 percent more likely to convert with retailers that offer BOPIS vs. those that don’t. This was especially true on the big days, with Cyber Monday conversion at BOPIS retailers outperforming non-BOPIS retailers by 45 percent; Black Friday BOPIS retailer conversion outperformed non-BOPIS by a whopping 64 percent.
• Bigger Shopping Carts: Consumers bought more items and higher-ticket items during Cyber Monday. On average, consumers’ shopping carts were 6 percent bigger at checkout on Cyber Monday than they were last year.
• Marketing channels: On Cyber Monday, consumers predominantly reached e-commerce sites either by going through a paid search ad (24.1 percent of all visits, +1.9 percent YoY) or by typing in the web address directly (22.5 percent of all visits, +7.9 percent YoY). While social networks represented a growing share of visits to e-commerce websites, at 6.7 percent (+15.1 percent YoY), this channel still struggles to convert visitors into customers, representing only 2.1 percent of all sales.

"Cyber Monday sales surged late last night as consumers established new records both in overall purchases and purchases made via smartphones," said Taylor Schreiner, principal analyst and head of Adobe Digital Insights, in a company press release. "The coming days will reveal if retailers will extend their holiday sales more than years past due to the shortest possible remaining shopping season till Christmas. Whatever the case, companies offering fast fulfillment options like free one-day shipping or BOPIS will be well positioned to help consumers purchase what they want in the few weeks left before Christmas."