Adobe reported that Cyber Monday sales were up 4.5% year-over-year through 6:30 p.m. Eastern time to $9.1 billion. The forecast is that consumers will end up spending between $13.9 billion and $14.2 billion for the day after accounting for the peak hours of 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to make Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day of all time. 55.2% of online sales have come through a mobile device so far on Cyber Monday, making it the dominant transaction platform. Just 5 years ago, in 2020, mobile share on Cyber Monday came in at 41.4%. Consumers are reported to be seeing the deepest discounts today for select electronics items, with discounts peaking at 30% off the listed price, as well as apparel (26%) and computers (24%). Bargains were also noted in toys (27%), televisions (23%), appliances (19%), sporting goods (19%), and furniture (18%). In electronics, online sales of Bluetooth headphones and speakers are set to rise by 1,900% on Cyber Monday in comparison to normal daily spending in October. Cyber Monday saw television sales jump up 1,800% in comparison to normal daily activity in October.
Generative AI-powered chat services and browsers were a helpful assistant for researching products and finding deals in categories like appliances, toys, video games, electronics, and jewelry. AI traffic to U.S. retail sites is expected to increase by 670% year-over-year on Cyber Monday. Retailers with a generative AI edge are likely to have converted traffic to sales at a much higher rate than retailers behind on the curve with generative AI tools. Analysts have also highlighted that generative AI may have reduced holiday season labor costs for some companies. Overall, Cyber Week is forecast to cross the $43 billion mark, including new e-commerce milestones for Black Friday ($11.8 billion, up 9.1% Y/Y) and Thanksgiving ($6.4 billion, up 5.3% Y/Y).