Online Shoppers Could Spend Half of Holiday Budget by Cyber Monday

By Paul Ausick Published Nov 30, 1:00PM EST

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Online Shoppers Could Spend Half of Holiday Budget by Cyber Monday — © filadendron / Getty Images

Shoppers have been spending more time (and money) online this year, and if estimated Cyber Monday spending tops about $5 billion, half of forecast e-commerce spending for the 2020 holiday season will be in the books with nearly a month to go before Christmas.

According to Adobe Analytics, e-commerce spending through Sunday totaled $89.5 billion, out of a forecast total of $189 billion. The not-so-good news is that shoppers at brick-and-mortar stores dropped by 52% year over year as Americans chose to remain in the relative safety of their own homes.

Black Friday shoppers spent nearly $9 billion online, the second-highest total for any single U.S. shopping day in history, behind some $9.4 billion spent last year on Cyber Monday. According to Adobe Analytics, the top five products for Black Friday were Hot Wheels, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Animal Crossing, Airpods and Apple Watch.

Traffic to physical stores declined by nearly 95% on Thanksgiving Day as many retailers closed their stores for the holiday. For all of last week, store traffic was down by more than 42%, according to data from Sensormatic Solutions.

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Adobe Analytics’ holiday e-commerce spending forecast of $189 billion is in line with a forecast spending range of $182 billion to $196 billion from Deloitte and below a range of $202.5 billion to $218.4 billion from the National Retail Federation. Adobe’s e-commerce spending range runs from a low of $171 billion (up 20% year over year) to $209 billion (up 47%).

Spending on computers and other devices amounted to nearly 7% of Black Friday spending, compared to just over 3% on smartphones. For the month of November, through Sunday, spending on laptops and other devices totaled $53.9 billion, compared to $35.6 billion spent on new smartphones.

For the weeks ahead, Adobe’s survey showed that shoppers expect to see better pricing on sporting goods (discounts averaging 27%) through December 13, electronics (discounts of 19%) between December 13 and 18, and tools and home improvement goods (discounts of 12%) from December 18 to December 26.

Over the weekend, e-commerce platform Shopify reported that sales from customers using its platform rose by 75% year over year on Black Friday. The platform’s customers generated $2.4 billion in global sales, with mobile sales accounting for two-thirds of the total. The average cart price globally was $90.70, an increase of 11% year over year.

Cyber Monday is forecast to generate between $10.8 billion and $12.7 billion in online spending, according to Adobe, an increase of 15% to 35% year over year. Mobile shopping has so far accounted for 40% of online sales, up 12% year over year.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.