- Cyber Monday spending is projected to reach a new record of $14.2 billion in online purchases.
- Cyber Week holiday spending is tracking ahead of projections, with Black Friday spending up by over 9%.
- In spite of expectations, many consumers report they're paring back household holiday budgets.
The days of queueing up in the wee hours for “door buster” deals on Black Friday, and the occasional mayhem that sometimes ensued, are well behind us now but is the recent king of holiday shopping moments — Cyber Monday — still a thing?
Turns out, it is.
A Monday report from the online retail experts at Adobe Analytics predicts consumers will spend a record $14.2 billion in online purchases for Cyber Monday, up 6.3% — nearly $900 million — over Cyber Monday last year. And during the peak shopping hours between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday, online spending is expected to reach a rate of $16 million every minute.
Online spending so far this Cyber Week, the five shopping days spanning Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, has already outpaced projections in spite of rough U.S. economic conditions that include persistent inflation and a slowing jobs market.
Thanksgiving kicked off the shopping period with $6.4 billion in online spending, up 5.3% over last year with Black Friday online purchases reaching $11.8 billion, an increase of 9.1% from the same day in 2024. Over the past weekend, consumers spent $11.8 billion online, an increase of 8.7% over the same two-day period last year.
While Cyber Monday is set to be the biggest online shopping day of the season and year, its projected year-over-year growth of 6.3% is expected to come in under Black Friday’s spending increase of over 9%.
Adobe analysts note that a similar dynamic was in play last year as well when Black Friday spending growth beat out Cyber Monday by nearly 3%. In a recent national consumer survey conducted by Adobe, 48% of respondents said Cyber Monday was the main day they planned to shop online this season, compared to 62% for Black Friday.
“While we expect record spending online today for Cyber Monday, Black Friday is challenging its dominance as the big e-commerce moment of the year,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, in Monday’s report. “Consumers now expect comparable deals to happen earlier during Cyber Week and many are not waiting to hit the buy button. Cyber Monday has essentially become ‘last call’ for big discounts during the holiday season, with electronics and apparel set to take the lion’s share of online spend.”
Here’s what’s hot for Cyber Monday
Adobe analysts predict the hot holiday items on Cyber Monday include toys such as superhero action figures, remote control cars, Pokémon cards, stuffed animals and toys, mystery blind item boxes, Hot Wheels track sets, Leap Frog learning toys, MrBeast Lab toys, Paw Patrol toys, action figures and board games.
Other items expected to catch the attention of Monday online shoppers include luggage sets, washer and dryers, Blackstone flat top griddles, sleep masks, exercise equipment, holiday decor, stainless steel water bottles, smartwatches, Ninja CREAMi and SLUSHi and air tags.
A season of subdued excitement?
While overall holiday shopping is expected to increase by around 3% or so this year, data collected in recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics statewide and national surveys conducted by Morning Consult finds a sizable swath of respondents who say they are set to pare back holiday spending this year.
When asked to choose the categories that best reflect their 2025 holiday spending plans, almost half of Utahns, 49%, said they will spend less than last year. About a third, 32%, report they will spend about the same as they did in 2024 and 11% are planning on upping their holiday budgets this time around.
Responses to the same question in the national sample tracked very closely to Utahns’ sentiments with 47% saying they’re cutting holiday spending, 34% matching last year’s holiday budget and 9% reporting plans to increase holiday spending.
So, what do those household holiday budgets look like?
A plurality of respondents in both Utah and national surveys, 48% and 46%, respectively, report they plan to spend less than $500 on holiday shopping this season. A similar portion of Utah and national poll participants, 17% and 16% respectively, expect to spend over $1,000, while 30% of Utah respondents and 26% of national participants have budgets in the $500-$999 range.