Cyber Monday sales set new record at $3 billion

This year’s Cyber Monday is expected to break records with almost $3 billion.

Mobile accounted for 49% of Cyber Monday shopping visits (38% smartphones, 11% tablets), resulting in 28% of online sales (17% smartphones, 11% tablets). Black Friday, typically the day for in-store shopping, saw more online shoppers than brick-and-mortar shoppers, according to the National Retail Foundation, with more than 103 million people saying they shopped online versus almost 102 million who said they shopped in physical stores. Similarly, Black Friday enjoyed a 14 percent growth in online sales by raking in $2.7 billion. The average order value was USD133, slightly lower than Black Friday ($137) and Thanksgiving Day ($162), indicating that shoppers were buying less expensive items. The retailer reported it experienced “record setting” sales performance in-store and online.

Retail analysts have been paying close attention to holiday purchasing patterns as more spending shifts online and away from traditional stores.

Graph showing sales on different big shopping days of the year, for 2014 and 2015.

According to Adobe, 53 percent of online retail traffic came from mobile devices, as did 32 percent of sales. But this year, he started online shopping on Black Friday, buying five pairs of Sorel and Uggs shoes for gifts and eight Chromecasts that were two for $50 instead of $35 off. He planned to shop on Cyber Monday too, but did not find compelling deals.

Lars Perner, an associate professor at USC and an expert on consumer behavior, said that the rise of Cyber Monday has happened naturally, as Internet use access across the United States has increased over the last ten years. This is double from a year ago.

On this Cyber Monday, many are finding deals from the comfort of their own homes. It also is offering more than 150 app-only lightning deals to encourage mobile shopping.

On average, shoppers received a 20 percent discount. The day wasn’t without hiccups, though: Target.com was down sporadically that day due to heavy traffic.

IBM meanwhile predicted Cyber Monday online sales would grow by more than 18 percent from past year, led by big-ticket items such as Samsung, Sony and LG televisions as well as Apple Watch and Beats headphones.