When is Cyber Monday? Your Complete Guide to This Saving Day Is Here (2024)

Curious to know when Cyber Monday falls this year and where it got its start? We broke it all down here.

Cyber Monday has been around for more than a decade. This day was initially created as an online counterpoint to the brick-and-mortar-heavy Black Friday, giving online retailers a piece of the Thanksgiving weekend pie. However, today, Cyber Monday serves as somewhat of an online-only Black Friday extension. Shoppers can wrap up their holiday shopping from the comfort of their couch, and they might find new deals in the process.

Read on for interesting facts about the day’s history and statistics on Cyber Monday shopping habits.

When is Cyber Monday 2023?

This year, Cyber Monday falls on Monday, Nov. 27 in 2023. Cyber Monday always takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday sales, however, can sometimes start on the Saturday following Black Friday and the sales often extend far past the single day too.

How to shop on Cyber Monday and save big

If you didn't get all the discounted products you wanted on Black Friday, don’t worry, shopper! Cyber Monday quickly follows Black Friday, and there are even more deals and discounts to score. Want to set yourself up for success? Consider the following:

  • Plan Ahead: Sign up for your favorite retailer's email newsletters ahead of time. That way, if the retailer has a Cyber Monday sale, you’ll get notified.
  • Know What You Want: Find the products you want to purchase before Cyber Monday and bookmark them. Check throughout Cyber Week to see if/when those products go on sale. Take note of price fluctuations, and use comparison tools like Google Shopping to make sure you’re making the right choices.
  • Seek Out Promo Codes: On top of the Cyber Week deals you find, you can also try to layer on coupon codes. Check out our sister sites, RetailMeNot and Offers.com, before you check out to maximize on savings.
  • Get Cash Back: In addition to promo codes, RetailMeNot offers cash back on purchases! All you have to do is create a free RetailMeNot account and check the cashback page to see if the retailers you’re shopping at have a cashback offer. Tap it to activate the offer, shop as you normally would, and get your savings back into your wallet!

The history of Cyber Monday

The term “Cyber Monday” started getting used in 2005 by the National Retail Federation (NRF), which needed a name for the flurry of online sales that take place the Monday after Thanksgiving Day.

In the 2005 press release that debuted the term “Cyber Monday,” the NRF credited faster internet connections at work and online retailers wanting to attract holiday shoppers as the impetus behind this new trend. In other words, online merchants wanted the money brick-and-mortar stores were making on Black Friday. And consumers were more than happy to shop from the comfort of their work desks instead of standing in line in the cold outside Walmart.

And, thus, Cyber Monday was born.

Since then, as noted above, the line between Black Friday and Cyber Monday has become blurred. Even in 2005, according to the initial NRF press release, online retailers were starting their Cyber Monday sales early.

Here are some more important milestones in Cyber Monday history:

  • 2006: CNN noted that limited supply of popular toys and gaming consoles were making online shopping on Cyber Monday more attractive to holiday shoppers.

  • 2007: The Great Recession hit just after Cyber Monday – and hit consumers hard the following year. Even so, Cyber Monday sales continued an upward trend, hitting $846 million in 2008 (up from $730 million in 2007), according to comScore numbers. According to the NRF, Black Friday and Cyber Monday became even more important during the recession -- shoppers had less to spend on non-necessities, so deals became critical.

  • 2008: The brutal holiday competition between Walmart and Amazon can perhaps be traced to Cyber Monday 2008, when Amazon’s traffic increased a whopping 21% year over year to beat Walmart’s 6% increase (according to data from site-metrics firm Hitwise). Amazon became the No. 1 retail site that year for Cyber Monday, putting Walmart in second place.

  • 2009: “Cyber Monday” started becoming “Cyber Week.” Walmart announced it would be offering five days of cyber deals.

  • 2010: Following Walmart’s lead the previous year, other major retailers announced they’d be breaking out of the Monday-only box and offering cyber sales well into the following week. Toys “R” Us extended its sales into the following Tuesday, Sears/Kmart kept the deals going through Thursday, and Target announced a full week of sales.

  • 2010: This was the first year Cyber Monday spending hit $1 billion, according to comScore.

  • 2011: CNBC declared that Black Friday and Cyber Monday had merged into one long shopping weekend. Notably, Walmart, Best Buy and other big-box stores had begun unleashing deep discounts online and in stores starting on Thanksgiving and limiting their doorbuster-only offerings.

  • 2012: IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark noted that smartphones were becoming increasingly popular Cyber Monday shopping tools. Roughly 18% of shoppers scoped out Cyber Monday deals on their phones (up from 12% the year before) and 13% made Cyber Monday purchases by smartphone (up from 7% the year before).

  • 2013: This was the year fashion websites started capitalizing on Cyber Monday in a big way with sitewide discounts. This year set the standard for the 30%-to-50% off sitewide Cyber Monday discounts you find on clothing giants like ASOS, Ann Taylor, Old Navy and more.

  • 2015: Target announced it would offer 15% off sitewide on Target.com for Cyber Monday.

  • 2016: The bulk of large retailers were no longer limiting themselves to a single day for “Cyber” deals. Amazon had begun calling its promo “Cyber Monday Deals Week” and releasing constantly changing daily deals. Kohl’s extended its Cyber sale into Early December.

  • 2017: Black Friday and Cyber Monday were, in many ways, indistinguishable. The lowest prices on the year’s hot items (smart-home devices, gaming consoles and VR) were available online and stayed the same Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. The holiday’s growth also shows no sign of slowing with more than $4 billion in sales in 2017.

  • 2018: Cyber Monday hit $6 billion in digital spending in 2018, according to Comscore. That's a 28% uptick year over year. This year, the pattern of Black Friday and Cyber Monday blurred even more, with some retailers' "Black Friday" and "Cyber" sales overlapping each other during Thanksgiving weekend. Many of the price points remained the same, too, throughout the weekend. The main difference? Some gaming deals were hotter (and sold out during Black Friday sales. While Cyber Monday saw some good deals (and matched Black Friday pricing on the PS4, Xbox One S and Xbox One X), the hottest Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 bundle was here and gone with Black Friday.

  • 2019: Cyber Monday spending hit $7.9 billion in digital spending, according to Comscore. As in previous years, the day blurred with Black Friday, with many of the deep discounts starting Thanksgiving weekend and practically identically matching those offered on Black Friday. However, since so many items sold out on Black Friday, Cyber Monday represented a second chance at many top products. Even so, Black Friday stole the show when it came to pricing on extremely popular products, such as AirPods.

  • 2020: In a year that saw more consumers shopping online during Thanksgiving weekend than ever before, Cyber Monday spending inched up, hitting almost $10 billion, per Comscore. As in the past, the day blurred with Black Friday, with retailers announcing (and even launching) their Cyber sales on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. While many Cyber Monday deals were repeats from Black Friday, 2020's crop of Cyber Monday sales brought the best pricing seen on the new Apple Watch Series 6, as well as a unique Nintendo Switch gaming bundle (Fortnite Wildcat edition).

  • 2021: Supply chain delays and stock shortage were big concerns during the 2021 holiday shopping season. According to Adobe Analytics, this lead consumers to start shopping earlier, resulting in a decrease in overall spending during Cyber Week 2021 (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) compared to 2020. Many sales from Black Friday continued into Monday, including smart home gadgets and robot vacuums. Consumers spent a total of $10.7 billion on Cyber Monday, down 1.4% from the previous year.

  • 2022: The drop in year-over-year spending seen in 2021 ended, with spending going back up to over $11 billion. Reatilers continued their pattern of kicking off Cyber "Monday" sales on Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend and continuing to expand from Cyber Monday to more of a Cyber Weekend concept.

Cyber Monday stats

We’ve rounded up Cyber Monday statistics from our own surveys and other reputable sources to give you a quick look at shopping trends and consumer behavior.

Cyber Monday spending

ComScore tracks e-commerce spending on Cyber Monday. Here’s its data on Cyber Monday spending since 2005 (ComScore stopped tracking Cyber Monday spendig in 2020):

2005: $484 million

2006: $608 million

2007: $733 million

2008: $846 million

2009: $887 million

2010: $1.028 billion

2011: $1.25 billion

2012: $1.46 billion

2013: $1.74 billion

2014: $2.6 billion

2015: $3.1 billion

2016: $3.7 billion

2017: $4.7 billion

2018: $6 billion

2019: $7.9 billion

2020: $9.81 billion

Adobe Analytics also tracks Cyber Monday spending. While the numbers are a bit different, they also show a pattern of year-over-year growth:

2016: $3.45 billion (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2017: $6.59 billion (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2018: $7.9 billion (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2019: $9.4 billion, up 19.7% YoY (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2020: $10.84 billion, up 15% YoY (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2021: $10.7 billion, down 1.4% YoY (Source: Adobe Analytics)

2022: $11.3 billion, up 5.6% YoY (Source: Adobe Analytics)

Cyber Monday vs. Black Friday

  • In 2022, online Cyber Monday spending outdid online Black Friday spending ($11.3 billion on Cyber Monday vs. $9.3 on Black Friday). Note, however, that Black Friday still draws a lot of in-store spending, which was not included in these tabulations. In 2022, despite Cyber Monday's high-tech rep, toys drove much of the growth (up 684% compared to an average day's toy spending the previous month). Popular toys in 2022 included LEGO, Pokemon and CoComelon.
  • In 2021, as noted above, Cyber Monday and Black Friday saw a decrease in spending, compared to the previous year. However, between the two days, Cyber Monday still came out on top. Cyber Monday online spending was driven by toys, gift cards, books, video games and small kitchen appliances. (Source: Adobe Analytics
  • In 2020, Cyber Monday booted Black Friday as the top planned shopping day, heading into the 2020 season: 30% of shoppers said they planned to shop Cyber Monday sales, compared to the 24% who said they planned to shop Black Friday sales. The pandemic likely had a lot to do with this more digital mindset. (Source: BlackFriday.com)
  • In 2019, 83.3 million people shopped online on Cyber Monday (compared to 93.2 million on Black Friday). (Source: NRF)
  • When it comes to spending, Cyber Monday is giving Black Friday a run for its money:
    • In 2021, Cyber Monday spending beat Black Friday spending by $1.8 billion. (Source: Adobe Analytics)
    • In 2020, Cyber Monday spending beat Black Friday digital spending by about $2.4 billion. (Source: Comscore)
    • In 2019, Cyber Monday digital spending beat Black Friday digital spending by about $2 billion (Source: Comscore)

Popular Cyber Monday products

Adobe Analytics tracks popular Cyber Monday products:

  • Top sellers in 2021 included: AirPods, Hot Wheels, Nintendo Switch, laptops and TVs. (Source: Adobe Analytics
  • Top sellers in 2020 included: "Super Mario 3D All Stars," AirPods, Vtech toys, HP and Dell computers, Chromecast. (Source: Adobe Analytics)
  • Top sellers in 2019 included: Nintendo Switch, VR devices, Samsung TVs, "Frozen 2" toys and L.O.L. Surprise Dolls (Source: Adobe Analytics)
  • Top sellers in 2018 included: Nintendo Switch, Little Live Pets, Red Dead Redemption 2, LG TVs, drones (DJI, Air Hogs, Sky Viper), Dell laptops, FurReal Pets and Amazon Echo devices (Source: Adobe Analytics)
  • Top sellers in 2017 included: Google Chromecast, iPads, Samsung Tablets, Apple AirPods, Sony Playstation VR, Microsoft Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch and L.O.L Surprise Dolls.

It’s now 2023, and Cyber Monday has grown from a trend to a tradition. And tracking deals on Thanksgiving weekend has become an increasingly unwieldy task. That’s why our team tracks thousands of deals and narrows them down to the ones that are worth your time and money. Check our blog for predictions on Cyber Monday sales, Cyber Monday ad scans and expert analysis to guide your shopping choices.

Are you a member of the media with questions about Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Contact media@blackfriday.com.

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When is Cyber Monday? Your Complete Guide to This Saving Day Is Here (2024)
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