Anyone who missed the significance of Cyber Monday this year gets a hall pass. The pandemic has rendered what started in 2005 as a reason for people to shop at work after a long holiday weekend meaningless. Yes, the numbers were there – but Cyber Monday is just a speed bump in the digital-first economy’s headlong rush to dominate retail in 2020.
By the numbers, Cyber Monday was not as big a success as predicted. That might be a harsh characterization for a day in which consumers spent $10.8 billion, setting a record for the largest U.S. online shopping day ever, according to Adobe Analytics data. Cyber Monday spending rose 15.1 percent year over year, short of Adobe’s original forecast of $12.7 billion. Adobe cut its online sales forecast for the entire holiday season to $184 billion, which is still a 30 percent increase from last year. It originally estimated online sales of $189 billion.
As a concept, Cyber Monday has become a gateway into a week-long sales event. The actual holiday is one in a series of digital-first sales wins that started in April, according to PYMNTS research, and continues through the current set of retail dynamics.
Take, for example, Shopify, which chose not to separate Cyber Monday from its holiday weekend results. The company reported on Tuesday morning (Dec. 1) that its Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend results generated sales of $5.1 billion from its more than one million brands. From Nov. 27 through Nov. 30, its total sales grew by 76 percent from the $2.9 billion reported for Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend in 2019, a record that was broken by the end of the day Saturday.
A statement from Shopify confirmed that this year’s results are as much a result of the digital shift and new earlier shopping dynamics as they are about an official holiday. Shopify said that daily total sales started increasing 19 days before Cyber Monday, nearly two weeks earlier than previous years, and that the event actually started a week earlier. From Nov. 23 through Nov. 30, sales increased by 84 percent from 2019.
“This has been a transformative year for commerce globally,” said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify. “The record sales we saw on Shopify over Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend demonstrate the power of the independent and direct-to-consumer businesses on our platform. With the center of gravity in commerce shifting from in-store to online, the pandemic has accelerated a change we have long anticipated. This multichannel shopping phenomenon is the blueprint for the future of retail—and we couldn’t be more excited by it.”
Amazon indicated similar dynamics. Although the company didn’t report or break out specific Cyber Monday data, it did give props to its sellers, which surpassed $4.8 billion in worldwide sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, an increase of over 60 percent compared to 2019. Amazon reported more than 71,000 small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) worldwide have surpassed $100,000 in sales this holiday season to date, creating an estimated 2.2 million jobs.
Most big retailers have treated Cyber Monday like they treated Black Friday – as a day to be spread across the calendar. Kohl’s, for example, extended its Cyber Monday sale through Wednesday (Dec. 2), and also tied it to the previous weekend’s festivities. Any coupons or discounts earned during “Black Friday Week” will be honored during Cyber Week. The company is also promoting its BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) service, with an emphasis on shopping via its app and loyalty program that connects through a mobile wallet.
GameStop is taking a similar approach. In fact, the company has been promoting its last-mile logistics more than its price discounts. Through Saturday (Dec. 5), the chain is offering a special discount of up to 50 percent off of its same-day delivery service to ensure that customers receive their orders in less than 24 hours.
“For this year’s Cyber Week sale, we have selected the best online offers for our valued customers,” said Chris Homeister, chief merchandising officer for GameStop. “Our online Cyber Week deals start earlier this year than ever before, and every day this week we will be launching new and exciting deals. We invite all gaming and pop culture enthusiasts to visit www.gamestop.com or our mobile app all week to see the great deals we are offering, as well as to take advantage of the temporary reduction in the price of our same-day delivery service so they can receive their online orders faster.”
“Throughout the remainder of the holiday season, we expect to see record sales continue and curbside pickup to gain even more momentum as shoppers avoid crowds and potential shipping delays,” said Taylor Schreiner, a director at Adobe Digital Insights, per a report. On Cyber Monday, Adobe said the number of orders picked up curbside was up 30 percent from a year ago.
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