Why Cyber Monday Sales Fell This Year

Online consumers shopped less on Cyber Monday this year than last, when the country was in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyber Monday online sales dropped to $10.7 billion, or 1.4%, from last year’s record $10.8 billion, marking the first-ever decrease, according to Adobe Analytics (via CNBC), which began tracking data of key shopping days in 2012.

Among the factors that likely contributed to the decrease were ongoing concerns over supply chain logjams leading to popular items being out of stock, weaker discounts compared to the ones a year prior and high inflation.

Retail experts say the decrease on Cyber Monday, as well as the drop on Black Friday this year, could be a sign that consumers are more likely to be spreading their holiday season spending over several days, rather than just a few.

While sales were down, the final price point on consumers' shopping carts on Cyber Monday increased 13.9% year over year.

Adobe and the National Retail Federation expect the holiday season will see record-breaking activity overall after last year's pandemic-related slumps.

Adobe reported that from Nov. 1 through Cyber Monday, Americans spent $109.8 billion online, representing an 11.9% increase year over year. On 22 of those days, consumers purchased more than $3 billion worth of goods, another record, according to Adobe.

Adobe anticipates digital sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 will hit $207 billion, which would represent a new record gain of 10% for e-commerce.