Cyber Monday broke records this year, with almost $12 billion in US sales

Cyber Monday in the US this year brought in over an 8% increase in sales since FY21. Globally, sales hit $46.2 billion, a 2.4% increase YoY. Black Friday also saw an increase this year of about 12%. This brings total sales for the weekend to around $68 billion. The figures are not adjusted for inflation, which plays a big part in the cost of goods also increasing.

Record numbers for Shopify. Shopify reported that 52 million consumers globally spent $7.5 billion on Shopify merchants, a 19 percent increase over last year.

“Consumers voted with their wallets over Black Friday and Cyber Monday by shopping with independent businesses,” said Shopify President Harley Finkelstein. “The future of commerce is on any surface, whether that’s shopping online or in store.”

Toys topped the most popular items shopped. The most popular toys shopped this year were:

• Pokémon cards
• Legos
• Hot Wheels
• Disney Encanto
• LOL Surprise dolls
• Cocomelon and Hatchimals toys
• Gaming consoles PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X
• Games FIFA 23, God of War Ragnarök, Madden 23, NBA 2K23, and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Highest spending items. The average selling price during cyber week increased about 3%. Not surprisingly, the total amounts spent on the most popular items this year also increased, some as much as nearly 700%!

• Toys, 684% increase
• Electronics, 391% increase
• Computers, 372% increase
• Sporting goods, 466% increase
• Appliances, 458% increase
• Books, 439% increase
• Jewelry, 410% increase

Honorable mentions. Other products topping the list of popularity were:

• Smart TVs
• Apple AirPods
• Apple MacBooks
• Tablets
• Smart watches
• Instant pots
• Air fryers

Other factors weighing in. Aside from inflation and higher-priced items, this year we also saw an increase in trends surrounding discounts and chatbots.

• Average discount rates hit 30%
• The use of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and other payment options rose by +5% YoY, while the average order value for BNPL went down by 5% in the U.S.
• Chatbot messages increased 53% on Cyber Monday compared to 2021

Dig deeper. You can read the full articles from MediaPost here and here.

Why we care. Sales aren’t over yet. If you’re an ecommerce brand or advertiser, you may want to keep your ad campaigns or discounts running until after the holidays to capitalize on the upward trends.