By Jeff Domansky, Dec 1, 2020
As predicted by most industry analysts, Cyber Monday was another roaring e-commerce success with sales reaching an estimated $10.8 billion by Adobe Analytics, up 15.1% from last year’s $9.4 billion.
While impressive, sales fell short of Adobe’s earlier prediction of a $12.7 billion shopping bonanza for the day and leading it to lower its online sales forecast for the overall holiday season to $184 billion from $189 billion. That’s still an impressive 30% increase in overall sales from 2019 but colored somewhat by a drastic decrease of in-store sales by bricks and mortar stores.
“Consumers wanting to take advantage of time-sensitive deals drove massive growth in the final hours of Cyber Monday,” Adobe Analytics reported. “During the ‘golden hours of retail’ (7-11 pm Pacific), consumers spent $2.7 billion. These last four hours account for 25% of the day’s revenue, with the peak hour between 8-9 pm Pacific reaching a purchasing rate of $12 million/minute.”
Adobe also said total sales for the holiday season to date have already reached $106.5 billion, passing the $100 billion mark nine days earlier than last year. Cyber Monday also saw a 30% increase in curbside pickup of products compared to 2019, a trend that seems here to stay.
Mobile mattered as well, with 37% of consumers buying with their mobile devices on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe.
Walmart online sales shone
Online sellers from big-name retailers like Walmart and e-commerce leaders Amazon and Shopify showed big increases in year-over-year e-commerce sales as consumers shopped from their couches, desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
According to a Jungle Scout analysis, Walmart.com sales are up 124% in Q4 2020 to date compared to 2019. Cyber Monday sales online at the giant retailer were $76 million, up 54%, and Black Friday online sales jumped to $69 million, up 100% over last year.
“Walmart is showing it’s taking e-commerce seriously in 2020. Walmart’s stores were even closed on Thanksgiving Day for the first time since the 1980’s, demonstrating a strong belief in its online performance,” said Jungle Scout CEO Greg Mercer.
“With sales and deals throughout the holiday season, Walmart’s Big Save event in October (which competed with Amazon Prime Day), and the “Turkey Five” weekend, it seems like Walmart.com saw the massive impact on sales it was hoping for,” Mercer added.
Product categories showed impressive sales gains during the “Turkey Five” Nov 26-Nov 30 timeline. Online toy sales reached $44 million, up 127%, followed by electronics ($41 million, +111%).
Gone were long lineups at the doors and checkouts and the customer fistfights over products sometimes accompanying holiday in-store sales in the past.
Amazon may own 42 cents of every dollar spent online
Leading up to the holiday season, Jungle Scout research showed 58% of consumers shopped more on Amazon with the pandemic’s onset.
Amazon said this year represented its biggest holiday shopping season ever. While it doesn’t report actual sales figures, the company reported the following results:
- Independent businesses selling on Amazon, mostly small to medium-sized businesses, surpassed $4.8 billion in worldwide sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, a 60% increase over last year.
- More than 71,000 small and medium-sized businesses worldwide surpassed $100,000 in sales this holiday season to date.
- American small and medium-sized businesses sold an average of 9,500 products per minute this holiday season.
- Independent businesses selling on Amazon worldwide have created an estimated 2.2 million jobs.
Amazon also sets the standard for fulfillment and delivery. “Prime members in the US can shop a selection of over 10 million items eligible for Prime Free One-Day Delivery with no minimum purchase, and millions of items available for Same-Day Delivery in 47 major metropolitan areas,” it said.
By all accounts, Amazon continues to dominate online sales in the US and may own 42 cents of every dollar spent online by the end of this year’s holiday sales season according to analysts at Truist Securities.
Shopify soars
Shopify and its more than 820,000 online stores sold a record $5.1 billion globally over the five-day Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales period, up 76% from $2.9 billion in sales last year.
“This has been a transformative year for commerce globally,” said Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify. “The record sales we saw on Shopify over Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend demonstrate the power of the independent and direct-to-consumer businesses on our platform. With the center of gravity in commerce shifting from in-store to online, the pandemic has accelerated a change we have long anticipated. This multichannel shopping phenomenon is the blueprint for the future of retail – and we couldn’t be more excited by it.”
Among the highlights for Shopify merchants:
- 44+ million consumers globally purchased from independent and direct-to-consumer brands powered by Shopify, +50% over 2019.
- Black Friday/Cyber Monday Weekend sales peaked at 12:00 pm ET on Black Friday, with $102 million+sales that hour.
- Globally, consumers spent USD 89.20 on average per order led by Japan ($106.40) and Australia ($105.50), followed by Canada ($103.00) and the US ($92.80).
- Top-selling cities were New York, Los Angeles, and London, with the US, UK, and Canada among the top-selling countries.
- Japan (+347%), Italy (+211%), Germany (+189%), and UK (+122%) all saw triple-digit growth in sales over last year.
- 67% of sales were made on mobile devices versus 33% on desktop, similar to 2019.
- Apparel and accessories held the top spot for sales, followed by health and beauty, and home and garden.
Many other big-name retailers with strong e-commerce operations also reported strong growth in online sales in many categories, although only partly making up for the decline in foot traffic and in-store shopping.
A shift in how consumers shop
While still critical, Cyber Monday has just become the exclamation point in a holiday season that now begins in October and carries right through to Boxing Day.
70% of consumers said they shopped on Amazon in Q3 while 35% shopped online at Walmart.com and 26% at Target.com and according to Jungle e Scout’s Q4 2020 Consumer Trends Report. Worryingly, the firm found 48% of American shoppers would be fine if they never shopped in a physical store again.
Jungle Scout also reports 23% of consumers said they would reduce their holiday spending if Congress did not pass a new stimulus package. That’s an important message for the incoming Biden-Harris administration and its economic advisers.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 has forced consumers to turn to e-commerce to meet many more of their shopping needs than in the past, and some of these new customer shopping habits are here to stay.
You can view Jungle Scout’s detailed analysis of Walmart’s Thanksgiving holiday sales results here.
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