SAN JOSE, Calif. — Did you go to Amazon.com Monday and pick up that Instant Pot countertop pressure cooker that you’d had your eye on for a while?
Or, did you spend some time deciphering your kids’ Christmas lists before scouring the internet and then paying up for those items they’ve been haranguing you about over the last several weeks?
Well, if you did, congratulations. You helped set a record for Cyber Monday spending online.
Adobe Systems has released its data on all the Cyber Monday shopping, and it was enough money to build about half of a U.S. aircraft carrier: According to Adobe, online shoppers spent $6.59 billion Monday, an increase of 16.8 percent from the same day a year ago.
To put that amount into perspective, Adobe said Black Friday online sales totaled $5.03 billion. And on Thanksgiving Day, in between all the gorging on turkey and football games on TV, consumers found time to spend $2.87 billion on filling out the wish lists of family members and friends.
People increasingly know where to find the best deals and what they want to purchase,” said Mickey Mericle, vice president of marketing and customer insights at Adobe.
Adobe’s data come from a combination of the company’s analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technologies.
Electronics were hot items for Cyber Monday shoppers. Adobe said the most popular gadgets included the Nintendo Switch game device, Apple AirPods and video-streaming products such as the Google Chromecast and Roku devices. Some more “traditional” gifts were flying off the virtual shelves, too, with Hatchimals, Hatchimals Colleggtible figurines and PJ Masks among the big sellers.
Adobe said Monday was the biggest day ever for online shopping, and mobile devices became more of a must-use tool for buying than ever before. Mobile had its first $2 billion retail day Monday, with smartphones making up 37.6 percent of all retail visits online. Sales via smartphones totaled 21.3 percent of all Cyber Monday revenue. The average order value made on an Apple iPhone was $123, while AOV for Android devices was $112.
“This is more than a trend,” said Tim Bajarin, president of tech research firm Creative Strategies. “Some of the best deals were on Cyber Monday and people took advantage of them through mobile devices since this catered to their more mobile lifestyle.”
The gains in Cyber Monday sales only added to the shift in consumers’ shopping habits away from old-school retailers.
“The fact that overall online sales are up also signifies the real struggle brick and mortar stores have and the frustration for many shoppers who stand in line on Black Friday for hours only to find that the product they want is sold out by the time the get into the store,” Bajarin said. “In most cases, if a product is online it is available, and they don’t even have to leave their home or office to get the deals they want.”
But, if you didn’t finish all your shopping on Cyber Monday, don’t fear. You can still charge up that phone and even use it to buy a new one. Adobe said that by the end of the year, 2017 should be the first year to top $100 billion in online holiday sales. There are probably still a few deals to be had.
