Deals marketed as some of the strongest of the holiday season are expected to keep shoppers across the United States glued to their screens as Cyber Monday caps the post-Thanksgiving buying rush. Online shopping has become embedded in everyday life, and each year the holiday period pushes spending to new highs.
Data from Adobe Analytics suggest that U.S. consumers will spend about $14.2 billion online this Cyber Monday, an increase of roughly 6.3% from 2024. The firm expects activity to crest between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time, when nearly $16 million per minute could be flowing through virtual shopping carts nationwide. That would keep Cyber Monday at the top of the online sales calendar.
The busy day follows a robust long weekend. According to Adobe, U.S. shoppers have already spent about $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, $6.4 billion on Thanksgiving Day, and another $11.8 billion over the weekend, surpassing earlier projections. Spending across “Cyber Week” – the five key days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday – is a key barometer of how willing households are to open their wallets for the rest of the season.
Deep Discounts And Shifting Habits
Analysts say aggressive promotions remain a central driver. Adobe forecasts that markdowns on electronics will peak around 30% off average listed prices on Monday, while apparel should reach discounts of roughly 26%. Toys are also expected to see steep reductions, with average advertised prices around 27% below list levels. Retailers are using these offers to clear inventory and entice shoppers who are carefully watching their budgets.
Another view of the online boom comes from Salesforce, which tracks digital spending at a wide range of retailers, including grocers. The company projects that Cyber Monday sales in the United States will reach about $13.4 billion, with global online spending climbing to roughly $53.7 billion. Even if estimates differ, both sets of projections point in the same direction: record-high volumes for internet commerce despite lingering economic concerns.
Experts note that many shoppers are no longer filling their carts with a large number of low-priced items. Instead, tighter budgets are nudging consumers to be more selective, prioritising a small number of big-ticket purchases and timing their orders to coincide with specific discount windows. The spread of sales across several days reflects how retailers now stage promotions rather than concentrating everything into one day.
Economic Pressures Shape Holiday Budgets
The expected record for Cyber Monday comes against a backdrop of mixed financial signals. For the overall November–December holiday season, the National Retail Federation believes U.S. shoppers will spend more than $1 trillion for the first time, but it also anticipates that growth will cool to around 3.7%–4.2%, slightly below last year’s pace.
Credit card balances and delinquencies on short-term loans have been edging higher, a sign that some consumers are leaning more heavily on revolving credit. One increasingly popular tool is “buy now, pay later” financing, which lets shoppers split purchases into instalments. Adobe estimates that such plans will account for about $20.2 billion in online spending this holiday season, up roughly 11% from a year ago, and expects these loans to surpass $1 billion in a single day on Cyber Monday, most of it tied to mobile purchases.
Economic uncertainty has also been fuelled by broader policy developments, including new U.S. tariffs on imported goods and concerns about job security as companies react to slower growth. Even so, a resilient labour market and solid wage gains have helped keep overall retail spending positive, giving retailers hope that shoppers will continue to spend – albeit with more caution – through the remainder of the year-end period.
Mobile Shopping, AI Tools And Hot Products
The way people shop online continues to evolve rapidly. Adobe expects that smartphones and other mobile devices will account for roughly 58% of online holiday spending this year, up sharply from five years ago, when desktop computers still dominated e-commerce.
Artificial intelligence is also playing a growing role in steering purchases. Salesforce estimates that AI-driven shopping tools – from product recommendation engines to virtual assistants that answer questions – helped influence about $14.2 billion of worldwide online sales on Black Friday alone. Retailers are betting that similar tools will guide customers toward deals on Cyber Monday, boosting conversion rates and average order sizes.
As for what people are buying, demand is strong for a mix of entertainment and high-end electronics. Analysts highlight gaming consoles such as the Nintendo Switch 2, collectible Labubu Dolls, and flagship smartphones like the iPhone 17, Google Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S25 among the season’s “hot” items, alongside more traditional holiday categories such as toys, beauty products and home goods.
