The Cyber Dozen is the new Cyber Five

The trend: The shorter-than-usual period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is driving retailers and brands to launch their holiday pushes early—several notable brands are starting “Black Friday” sales on November 21.

Here are some of the retailers participating in an event we’re calling the “Cyber Dozen”—the period from the Thursday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday:

• Amazon will roll out “millions of deals across more than 35 categories” during its Black Friday Week event, which will run from November 21 through November 29. The retailer promised to offer half off items like headphones and earbuds from Beats and serums from TruSkin.
• Best Buy’s Black Friday Sale kicks off on Thursday with an initial batch of doorbusters, followed by more on November 22 and November 29. Those deals include 41% off an LG 45-inch OLED gaming monitor and 54% off a Dyson digital slim cordless vacuum. The retailer also plans to offer app-exclusive flash deals on Black Friday.
• Google’s Black Friday sales will launch November 21 with deals like 38% off a FitBit Charge 6 and 22% off Pixel Buds Pro 2.

While Walmart may not be participating in the Cyber Dozen, its “Black Friday Deals” event will kick off Monday, November 25 at 12pm Eastern for Walmart+ members before opening to the public five hours later. The sale will offer steep discounts such as 67% off a TCL 65-inch TV and 68% off a Carote cookware set.

How we got here: Once upon a time (in the 1980s), the concept of Black Friday took off as retailers offered steep discounts to drive shoppers into their stores the day after Thanksgiving, marking the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

• As the internet took hold in the early 2000s, retailers began noticing a spike in ecommerce sales the Monday after Thanksgiving, when consumers could use high-speed internet in their offices to shop online. By 2005, the National Retail Federation coined the term Cyber Monday, driving retailers to hype sales around the day. (We discussed the origins of Cyber Monday on a 2022 episode of “Reimagining Retail.”)
• About 10 years ago, retailers began promoting sales across the five days from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday. That period’s peak influence was 2019, when it accounted for 20% of holiday ecommerce sales.
• More recently, retailers have stretched the holiday season earlier and earlier—particularly during the pandemic, when supply chain disruptions drove retailers and brands to worry about gifts arriving at shoppers’ doors in time.

Even as the Cyber Five's share of overall holiday sales declines, the period remains vitally important. Cyber Monday and Black Friday will still be the two biggest online shopping days of the year: We expect Cyber Monday ecommerce sales will grow 7.8% YoY to $13.93 billion, and Black Friday ecommerce sales will increase 5.5% to $10.76 billion.

Our take: There’s no time for retailers to waste this holiday season given that there are only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Merchants need to get shoppers to spend as early as possible to avoid excess inventory eating into their margins.

Go further: Read our US Holiday Shopping 2024 report.