The title of highest grossing shopping day now belongs to Cyber Monday rather than Black Friday.
Key Details
- Online deal-hunting following Black Friday began when consumers waited until Monday to use better internet at their workplace. Now it has transformed into one of the most profitable online shopping days.
- Black Friday still brings in more physical shoppers—around 93.2 million in 2019—but Cyber Monday generates nearly $2 billion in revenue.
- Retailers have taken advantage of the love for online shopping by offering significant holiday discounts to draw in more consumers.
Why it’s important
Cyber Monday was born out of the habits of consumers. While analyzing Black Friday shopping data, analysts realized that there was a spike of online shopping sales the following Monday.
Shoppers were still looking for deals after Black Friday, but in 2000, not every shopper had reliable internet at home. Many waited until they returned to the office on Monday where they could snag online deals with more reliable internet.
Since then, retailers have seized the opportunity to draw in a larger crowd of shoppers on Monday. At the time, the shopping phenomenon was mostly isolated to online retailers like Amazon and eBay, but by 2005, Cyber Monday was becoming one of the largest shopping days of the year.
Online retailers offered special promotions and discounts to entice new customers. During the recession in 2008 and 2009, online shopping got a boost as shoppers looked for more deals to save money ahead of the holidays.
Since then, Cyber Monday has passed Black Friday as one of the highest grossing shopping days in the U.S. Cyber Monday accomplishes this while still drawing in fewer customers than Black Friday.
In 2019, before the pandemic cut down holiday crowds, Black Friday saw 93.2 million shoppers while Cyber Monday had 83.3 million, Insider reports.
With more major retailers adding online shopping options, the success of Cyber Monday is only likely to grow.