Cyber Monday online sales hit all-time high

Bigger-than-expected discounts and strong demand for electronics and toys made Cyber Monday the biggest ever day for online sales in the United States, according to the Adobe Digital Index report.

121.3 million people are expected to shop online for Cyber Monday deals, according to the National Retail Federation. Cyber Monday sales growth far outstripped that of traditional high street shopping on Black Friday, which saw sales fall by more than a billion to $10.4 billion. The world largest retailer Walmart will be kicking off its 2015 Cyber Monday sales a day early, which will now be on Sunday, November 29th, as the retail corporation unveiled its plan to start the online shopping madness a day earlier. Mobile commerce is estimated to have accounted for 27 percent of total digital commerce on Cyber Monday 2015, with $838 million spent via smartphones and tablets. For most of the last decade, the Monday following Thanksgiving was the busiest day for Web shopping as US consumers returned to work and used their offices’ fast Internet connections to buy holiday gifts.

That means that consumers spent some $11 billion online from Thanksgiving through yesterday, a 15% year over year increase.

Handling the influx Target set up a queue where some people continued shopping where as some had to wait for their turn to access the retailer’s site. The company also said they experienced a brief intermittent interruption, but they had resolved the issue and the service was available to use.

Another firm that tracks online spending, MasterCard Advisors, said e-commerce sales for last month and the Thanksgiving weekend rose 13.4 percent compared with the year-ago period.

Online shopping can often trump store visits by giving consumers the freedom to shop whenever they want without leaving the house.

There was a two-way tie in brands associated with Cyber Monday.

Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru said even though more people are shopping online and on their phones throughout the season, Cyber Monday will still drive sales from its name alone. “There are several contributing factors, including fewer available store hours on Thanksgiving Day and a later Hanukkah that is anticipated to push sales into December”, ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said in a statement Tuesday.