Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day ever

The news: Cyber Monday 2022 was the largest retail ecommerce sales day in US history. Consumers spent $11.3 billion online—a 5.8% increase over last year, per the latest Adobe Analytics figures.

The holiday shopping season’s peak: The strong results demonstrate how important Cyber Monday and the rest of the Cyber Five are to retailers’ overall holiday sales.

• The Cyber Five remains the apex of the holiday shopping season. However, it will account for a smaller share of sales than in years past. We expect the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday will account for 15.6% of retail ecommerce sales this year, down from 16.9% last year.
• Shopping is part of most consumers’ Thanksgiving weekend activities. 80% of consumers planned to shop during the five-day holiday period, up from 71% last year and 79% in 2019, per Deloitte. Younger consumers drove that change: 86% of Gen Zers and 89% of millennials expected to make a purchase during the Cyber Five.
• The early start to the holiday season didn’t dampen demand. Retail sales hit new highs during the Cyber Five even though 60% of shoppers started browsing and buying for the season by early November, per NRF, thanks to Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers launching high-profile sales in mid-October.

Overcoming economic headwinds: The strong results are all the more notable given that about 60% of consumers have scaled back their spending in response to inflation, and even more consumers plan spending cuts in the year ahead, per the University of Michigan.

• 37% of consumers say their financial outlook is worse than it was a year ago, per Deloitte. Despite those challenges, 74% expected to spend more or the same on the holidays compared to last year.
• Shoppers are hyper focused on finding a good deal. With retailers eager to move excess inventory, many are finding steep discounts. The average discount rate was 30% on Saturday and Sunday, according to Salesforce.
• Deals are widely available. Retailers heavily discounted items in key categories that struggled throughout this year. For example, the average discount on televisions was 12.93%, computers was 16.4%, and furniture was 5.2%, per Adobe Analytics.

The big takeaway: The strong sales gains throughout the Cyber Five bode well for the remainder of the holiday season.

• We expect consumer spending to remain solid throughout the rest of the holiday season, with 7.0% growth. That said, most of those gains will stem from inflation.

Go further: Read our full US Holiday Shopping 2022 report.