Cyber Monday Sale 2021: Why You Should Not Miss It?

The holiday season is coming, and thus comes the busiest time of year for the eCommerce business. We are sure that you are working on the plan for year-end sale occasions from Halloween and Black Friday to Christmas and New Year. Which sale occasion should you go BIG this year?

This article will analyze why Cyber Monday still will be your game-changer. You will see the latest statistics, recent data on consumer spending, and shoppers’ preferences. Moreover, it shines a light on the most popular goods and the impact of COVID-19 on sales. By reading, retailers will learn why it is good to slash prices during this occasion. They will also gain insights into consumer habits and how big the discounts should be to take advantage of many digital shoppers during Cyber Week.

1. General Statistics

In 2020, Cyber Monday became the most important day for online shopping as it set a record for digital revenue in the US. And this isn’t just a local phenomenon; other nations like the UK posted big numbers. The popularity of this campaign is a big win for online merchants of all scales. Even small businesses get a chance to offer their wares to a broader audience and secure large returns. Meanwhile, as the latest Cyber Monday statistics show, big-box retailers reap much bigger sales than on regular selling days.

US Cyber Monday 2020 statistics

• In 2020, the online sales on Cyber Monday reached $10.8 billion, making it the biggest eCommerce selling day of all time (CNBC, 2020).
• This represents a 15.1% increase from the total revenues of Cyber Monday in 2019 (CNBC, 2020).
• Surprisingly, the 2020 revenue total was lower than Adobe’s forecast, which was $12.7 billion (CNBC, 2020).
• Lending to Cyber Monday’s high revenues, traffic to brick-and-mortar stores was down by 42.3% during Cyber Week in 2020 (Forbes, 2020).
• The sales of brick-and-mortar stores also declined by 23.9% during Cyber Week (Forbes, 2020).
• During the peak hour of Cyber Monday 2020, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM, the buying rate reached $12 million per minute (Statista, 2020).
• Moreover, the last four hours of Cyber Monday accounted for 25% of the day’s revenue (PracticalEcommerce, 2020).
• The gross merchandise volume in 2020 also increased by 74% year-over-year (BigCommerce, 2020).
• In addition, the average order value increased by 17% (BigCommerce, 2020).
• The US leads all countries in Cyber Week sales and experienced 67% growth YoY in gross merchandise volume (BigCommerce, 2020).
• An estimated 186 million shoppers purchased goods during Cyber Week 2020, 190 million fewer than Cyber Week 2019 (The Washington Post, 2020).
• Clicks on the sites of digital retailers went up by 46% on Cyber Monday in 2020 (ClickZ, 2020).

Historical statistics

• It began in 2005 when the National Retail Federation created a digital counterpart of Black Friday (BlackFriday.com, 2021).
• The holiday surpassed $1 billion for the first time in 2010 to become the biggest online shopping day at the time (Comscore, 2010).
• During The Great Recession in 2007, Cyber Monday still managed to pull $733 million in revenue, higher than Black Friday’s ($531 million) that year (Comscore, 2008).

Cyber Monday in other countries

• Twenty-eight countries celebrate Cyber Monday (Campaign Monitor, 2019).
• Cyber Monday and Black Friday account for a 180% increase in lead acquisition compared to regular shopping days (Socital, 2020).
• In Europe, UK shoppers are the most aware of Cyber Monday, with a share of 89%, followed by shoppers from Germany (86%), Spain (85%), Italy (80%), Netherlands (70%), and Sweden (69%) (Simon-Kucher & Partners, 2020).
• Moreover, Cyber Week sales in the UK increased by 146% in 2020, placing the country at the 2nd spot in overall sales, behind only the US (BigCommerce, 2020).

2. Cyber Monday shopping behavior statistics

While a slight majority of shoppers use desktops, smartphone users have steadily increased through the years. And in 2020, they accounted for more than $74 billion in sales. After all, smartphone shoppers have the luxury of buying from retailer websites and shopping apps. Meanwhile, merchants can use shopping cart software to sell across multiple channels. More iOS users in the US accounted for more extensive sales than Android users on Cyber Monday 2020.

By device

• 37% of sales during Cyber Monday 2020 were made through smartphones (NBC News, 2020).
• Meanwhile, another study puts the share of smartphone purchases at 43% (BigCommerce, 2020).
• As such, revenue from smartphone purchases from November to December 2020 amounted to $74.6 billion, while laptops and other devices accounted for $113.6 billion (Adobe, 2020).
• In addition, the conversion rate of smartphone shoppers on Cyber Monday 2020 was 3.31%, while those who used laptops and other devices had a rate of 7.2% (Adobe, 2020).
• iOS users placed 106% more orders than Android users on Cyber Monday 2020 (BigCommerce, 2020).
• Android users spend more than 110 million hours on shopping apps in the weeks leading up to and during Cyber Week (Business of Apps, 2020).

By preference

• 70% of shoppers planned to shop online during the holidays in 2020 (PYMNTS, 2020).
• In addition, 68% prefer to shop online because of its convenience, while 48% cite the superior range of products online as their primary reason (PYMNTS, 2020).
• In a survey before Cyber Week 2020, most shoppers planned to take advantage of Cyber Monday sales at 30%, followed by the sales from Black Friday (24%), Small Business Saturday (18%), Thanksgiving (15%), and fall/pre-Black Friday (13%) (BlackFriday.com, 2021).
• The most anticipated holiday deals come from Amazon, with 56% of shoppers looking forward to them, followed by Target (41%), Walmart (31%), Best Buy (22%), Kohl’s (21%), and home improvement stores (19%) (BlackFriday.com, 2021).
• Interestingly, 43% of US shoppers would rather pay $20 more to support a small business than save $20 in buying goods from a large retailer during the 2020 holiday season (UnionBank, 2020).

3. Cyber Monday sales statistics

Cyber Monday wasn’t the only good day during 2020’s Cyber Week. It trailed all the other days regarding the increase in sales from 2019. This means that the average customer spent a lot of money on Cyber Monday to reach $10.8 billion in total revenue. Moreover, they bought from small businesses and large retailers, as shown by recent data.

So, exactly how much money does the average person spend on Cyber Monday? Read on to find out.

Customer spending

• In 2020, shoppers spent $188.2 billion from November 2020 to December 2020, much higher than 2019’s $142.8 billion (Adobe, 2020).
• This represents a 30% increase from 2019 (PYMNTS, 2020).
• Moreover, the average cost spent by each shopper is $312 (The Washington Post, 2020).
• In addition, the total spending on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday in 2020 grew by 25% YoY (Comscore. 2020).
• The highest year-over-year increase in purchases during Cyber Week 2020 was during Small Business Saturday (30.2%), followed by Super Sunday (23.7%), Black Friday (21.6%), Thanksgiving (21.5%), and Cyber Monday (15.1%) (Digital Commerce 360, 2020).
• Based on 2019 Cyber Monday statistics, the average conversion rate of the said shopping holiday is 7.75% (Socital, 2020).

Businesses with the highest sales

• Amazon holds the largest market share among this event’s online sellers at 56%, followed by Best Buy (11%), Walmart (9%), Macy’s (6%), and eBay (5%) (Edison Trends, 2019).
• However, in terms of eCommerce growth in the first half of 2020, Walmart led the pack with 150%. It is followed by Etsy (84%), Target (71%), Best Buy (34%), and Amazon (29%) (Digital Commerce 360, 2020).
• Small businesses had a 501% increase in sales on Cyber Monday 2020, while large retailers saw a 486% increase (NBC News, 2020).
• However, retailers with over $1 billion in revenues enjoy a 70% higher conversion rate than small businesses (TechCrunch, 2020).
• Shopify generated more than $5.1 billion in sales during Cyber Week 2020, representing a 76% increase from 2019 (Shopify, 2020).
• During the same period, Amazon likewise posted huge numbers, with its merchants collecting more than $4.8 billion, representing over 60% of 2019 (Amazon, 2020).
• Moreover, 88% of the top 50 retailers offered deals for this extensive campaign in 2020 (Digital Commerce 360, 2020).
• Further, the median discount given by the top 50 brands is 50% (Digital Commerce 360, 2020).

Most preferred goods

• The hottest selling products on the 2020 edition of Cyber Monday were Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Airpods, Vtech toys, HP and Dell computers, and Chromecast (Adobe, 2020).
• Customers paid the lowest for electronic products during Cyber Monday 2020 compared to the other days during Cyber Week, with a digital price index of -26.8% (Adobe, 2020).
• The same went for sporting goods, which had a digital price index of -20.4%, toys (-18.9%), and home improvement items (-10.9%) (Adobe, 2020).
• Meanwhile, Small Business Saturday held a slight edge in appliance discounts with a digital price index of -20.1%, compared to Cyber Monday’s 19.8% (Adobe, 2020).
• Across the board, the most significant discounts were held on Cyber Monday, with a median of 29% (Digital Commerce 360, 2020).
• Between September and Cyber Monday in 2020, shoppers were most keen about buying clothes (50%), followed by home goods (39%), toys (21%), computers and tablets (20%), TVs (17%), and game consoles and video games (16%) (BlackFriday.com, 2020).
• Sporting goods had enormous year-on-year growth in gross merchandise volume sold on Cyber Week 2020 at 136%, followed by automotive (51%), health and beauty (43%), and apparel and accessories (37%) (BigCommerce, 2020).

4. Cyber Monday vs. Black Friday statistics

Any talk about Cyber Monday often includes Black Friday. The said occasions are the two most profitable days during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday holding an edge in sales. On the other hand, Black Friday is a more popular occasion for physical stores and has its share of online promos. This is why Black Friday is regarded as the crowd drawer while Cyber Monday is the money maker. And recent statistics on Black Friday lend credence to this claim.

• Cyber Monday 2020 exceeded the eCommerce revenue of Black Friday 2020 by $1.8 billion (Statista, 2020).
• However, in 2019, Black Friday was the faraway leader for in-store sales with 84.2 million shoppers, compared to Cyber Monday’s 21.8 million (National Retail Federation, 2019).
• Black Friday also beat Cyber Monday in the number of digital shoppers that year, 93.2 million to 83.3 million (National Retail Federation, 2019).
• The same followed for the number of orders, with Black Friday holding an order share of 45% (BigCommerce, 2020).
• But Cyber Monday still held the edge in eCommerce revenues in 2019 with $9.4 billion, higher than Black Friday’s $7.4 billion (Statista, 2020).
• Surprisingly, Black Friday had slightly bigger discounts on computers in 2020, with a digital price index of -28.6%. Cyber Mondays were 28.2% (Adobe, 2020).
• What’s more, more people bought goods using their smartphones on Black Friday (40%) than on Cyber Monday (37%) in 2020 (PracticalEcommerce, 2020).
• Black Friday increased its purchases by 12% over the previous year, while Cyber Monday’s total purchases dropped by 17% (ClickZ, 2020).

5. Data on Cyber Monday during the pandemic

Although online shopping had been gaining ground before the pandemic, COVID-19 accelerated the shift to digital in a big way in 2020. Besides the lockdown, people were apprehensive about going out and shopping because they would get infected with the coronavirus. This paved the way for Cyber Monday to stamp its relevance further since discounts and purchases are conducted online. And it’s poised to grow even bigger in the years to come.

• During the Black Friday weekend, visitors to physical stores were down by 49% in 2020 amid COVID-19 (Forbes, 2020).
• Also, foot traffic was down by 23% in 2020 (Forbes, 2020).
• With this, 47.4% of shoppers admitted that they prefer to shop online because they might get infected with the coronavirus (PYMNTS, 2020).
• 84% of shoppers admitted that COVID-19 would impact at least one facet of their shopping behavior (BlackFriday.com, 2021).
• And 91% of shoppers have shifted their buying habits due to COVID-19 (The Patriot Ledger, 2020).
• With this, 58% of shoppers have opted to buy goods online, while 50% have decided to shop less (The Patriot Ledger, 2020).
• In addition, 50% more shoppers plan to have contactless pickups than in 2020 (BlackFriday.com, 2021).
• Moreover, store visits in the US declined by 52% on Black Friday, partly due to COVID-19 (Global News, 2020).

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So, How have you prepared for the Cyber Monday sale 2021? 

Cyber Monday 2021 will be on November 27 this year. With the most prominent online deals being just around the corner, what is the plan for your eCommerce website this year?

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