• by Ray Schultz , November 30, 2021

Cyber Monday was a bit of a bust this year, both for brands and email marketing teams. Consumers spent $10.7 billion on the day -- a 1.4% decrease from last year and roughly $100 million less YoY.  

However, Cyber Monday remains the biggest online shopping day of the year, with consumers spending $12 million every minute during the peak hour of 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. ET. 

Meanwhile, one email firm, ActiveCampaign, reports that email sends decreased by 85% from Black Friday to Small Business Saturday. 

According to Adobe, Cyber Week -- from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday -- totaled $33.9 billion in online spend, also down 1.4% YoY.  

Black Friday dropped 1.3% from last year, totaling $8.9 billion versus $9 billion in 2020. Thanksgiving Day was flat at $5.1 billion. 

Still, consumers have spent $109.billion online during this season, an 11.9% leap over 2020. 

“With early deals in October, consumers were not waiting around for discounts on big shopping days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday,” said Taylor Schreiner, director, AdobeDigital Insights. 

Schreiner adds, “This was further fueled by growing awareness of supply chain challenges and product availability. It spread out e-commerce spending across the months of October and November, putting us on track for a season that still will break online shopping records.”   

The big sellers on Cyber Monday were: 

• Toys —  Hot Wheels, Nerf toys, Baby Alive, Paw Patrol, Squeakee toys and Tamagotchi Pix
• Video Games — Just Dance 2022, Mario Party Superstars, Spider Man: Miles Morales, FIFA 22, Metroid Dread
• Electronics — AirPods, Apple Watches, Apple Pencils, laptops (HP, Lenovo and Dell), Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite, Xbox Series S, Oculus Quest 2, TVs (Sony and Samsung) 

The final price point for Cyber Monday shopping carts was 13% higher than last year, and 19% for the season overall. 

In a separate analysis, Mastercard SpendingPulse reported an 8,7% increase in ecommerce sales on Cyber Monday.   

“Coupled with a strong Thanksgiving weekend, retailers continue to see healthy consumer spending this holiday season,” states Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard.