What Is Cyber Monday? 2025 Guide for Online Retailers

What is Cyber Monday? In 2025, it falls on December 1, and if last year is anything to go by, it’s set to be one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

In 2024, Cyber Monday hit a record $13.3 billion in US online sales alone, with Shopify merchants generating $11.5 billion over the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. 

For ecommerce retailers, this day offers massive potential to boost sales through Cyber Monday deals, but also requires smart planning to maximize results. The key is driving serious revenue without sacrificing margins or burning out your team. That’s where smart, sustainable Cyber Monday 2025 planning comes in.

Ahead, you’ll learn how to create offers that excite your customers and support your bottom line.

What is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is the Monday after US Thanksgiving, when ecommerce retailers offer large online discounts to kick off the holiday shopping season. The term was popularized in 2005 by the National Retail Federation after observing a sharp spike in online spending that day. 

Early Cyber Monday statistics showed steady year-over-year growth, making it an unofficial digital counterpart complementing Black Friday’s in-store focus.

Cyber Monday vs. Black Friday: Key differences

Black Friday falls on the day after US Thanksgiving and blends in-store and online sales, while Cyber Monday is the following Monday and focuses on exclusive online discounts. Both days drive record spending, but Cyber Monday deals often target digital-first shoppers.

Black Friday’s roots lie in in-store doorbusters, though it’s evolved to include online promotions to boost both physical and digital traffic. 

Cyber Monday, on the other hand, was born in the ecommerce era. It’s often when digitally native brands or ecommerce stores drop exclusive online-only deals or extend their Black Friday sales with a digital twist.

Shopper behavior shifts slightly, too. Black Friday tends to attract deal-seekers looking for big-ticket items, like TVs, appliances, and laptops. Cyber Monday often leans more toward smaller splurges, last-minute add-ons, and holiday gifting. 

The history and evolution of Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday has come a long way since it first hit the scene. A big part of Cyber Monday history is how it’s grown from a clever marketing term into one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, shaped by changing tech, ecommerce trends, and how people shop.

Origins in 2005

The term “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation to describe a spike in online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving. Many shoppers returned to work and jumped online to snag deals they missed over the weekend. That year, US shoppers spent around $484 million online. 

Growth timeline: 2019-2025

Since 2019, Cyber Monday has become a massive ecommerce event. In 2020, it broke records with $10.7 billion in sales, driven by the pandemic’s shift to online shopping. That number rose to $11.3 billion in 2022, and $12.4 billion in 2023, with 2025 expected to push it even higher. 

Mobile shopping revolution

Back in the early 2010s, Cyber Monday was mostly desktop-driven. Now, mobile is officially in the driver’s seat. In 2024, mobile accounted for 54.8% of Cyber Monday sales—about $4.76 billion from phones alone. 

This means if your site isn’t fast, responsive, and easy to shop on a phone, you’re leaving money on the table. 

Cyber Monday 2025: Trends and statistics

According to Cyber Monday statistics, 2025promises to build on the record-breaking momentum of 2024. A combination of emerging technologies, evolving consumer behavior, and extended holiday timelines are shaping a major opportunity for ecommerce.

Sales projections and growth

Cyber Monday online sales in the US reached $13.3 billion in 2024, up 7.3% from 2023. Looking ahead to 2025, analysts expect continued growth fueled by earlier promotions during “Black November,” when holiday deals start as early as the first week of November.

AI‑powered shopping experiences are also on the rise. In 2024, AI influenced an estimated $61 billion in global Cyber Week sales, showing how personalization, recommendation engines, and chat‑based tools are becoming the norm.

Popular product categories

Based on Cyber Monday 2024 data, top product categories remain consistent across regions, led by:

• Electronics and computers
• Home and kitchen
• Apparel, beauty, and shoes
• DIY and tools
• Toys and accessories

In the US, sports and outdoors and beauty also saw double-digit lifts in value share (up 25% and 15% respectively compared to average Mondays).

Electronics offered the steepest discounts (up to 30% off), closely followed by toys (26% off), apparel (23%), TVs (22%), and computers (22%), all fueling big-ticket and impulse buys.

Consumer shopping behavior

Cyber Monday consumer shopping behavior looks different from the rest of the year. Here’s why: 

• Impulsive shopping ramps up. Flash sales, steep discounts, and limited-time offers fuel impulsive purchases. Flexible payment options like buy now, pay later (BNPL) are a big draw: In 2024, BNPL accounted for nearly $1 billion in Cyber Monday sales, with more than 75% of those via mobile devices.
• Shoppers turn to mobile. In 2025, 59% of shoppers prefer mobile-first purchases. Ambient shopping (browsing on the go) continues to grow, with features like in-app exclusives or one-click payments that speed checkout.
• Urgency plays a key role. Shoppers respond to countdown timers, time-limited deals, clear value, and convenience. During uncertain economic periods, consumers look for deals and perceived savings become a major trigger. Stretching holiday deals throughout “Black November” gives shoppers more time to buy, reduces burnout, and lets brands space out their promotions and target different groups more effectively.

Benefits of participating in Cyber Monday

1. Increased sales and revenue
2. Customer acquisition and retention
3. Clearing old inventory
4. Brand exposure
5. Marketing opportunities
6. Data collection and marketing insights
7. Incentive to improve your ecommerce experience

Cyber Monday offers clear advantages for ecommerce retailers. Whether you offer major sales or small discounts, there are several key ways this event can help your business:

1. Increased sales and revenue

Cyber Monday generates a significant surge in online shopping. Last year, Shopify store owners saw peak sales of $4.6 million a minute across Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Strategic discounts attract bargain hunters and drive higher sales volumes. Many brands extend their campaigns for several days to offer an entire Cyber Week of discounts.

For example, beauty brand Luseta offered 25% to 30% across all its product collections last Cyber Monday. 

2. Customer acquisition and retention

Cyber Monday can help you attract customers who are new to your business and its products. Competitive deals can entice first-time buyers to make a purchase, potentially converting them into loyal customers.

Offering exclusive Cyber Monday discounts to existing customers can build goodwill and strengthen long-term customer retention. What starts as a single retail sale can grow into a lasting customer relationship.

Drinks brand Magic Mind wins customer affection with trust indicators, like a money-back guarantee and the option to cancel subscriptions anytime. 

3. Clearing old inventory

It’s an open industry secret that retailers use Cyber Monday to clear out excess or older inventory. Discounting these items frees up valuable storage space for new products and helps prevent overstocking. This particularly benefits small businesses with limited space for warehousing inventory.

4. Brand exposure

Cyber Monday promotions can increase brand awareness, even if someone doesn’t buy from you right away. Eye-catching deals can spark social media mentions, reviews, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Hand sanitizer brand Touchland promoted its sale with an Instagram Reel that racked up more than 4,000 likes. 

5. Marketing opportunities

Go beyond word-of-mouth marketing by creating multichannel targeted campaigns for Cyber Monday. These can include paid search advertising, video ads, social media marketing, and email marketing campaigns, among other tactics. Cyber Monday marketing lets you connect with your most loyal customers and a wider audience, including inactive customers who have been waiting for a sale.

Bespoke curtain brand Curtarra partnered with an industry influencer to promote its Cyber Monday sale via Meta ads. 

6. Data collection and marketing insights

Online sales events like Cyber Monday provide an opportunity to collect data about consumer behavior and preferences. By analyzing shopping patterns, you can identify popular products, evaluate which marketing strategies are effective, and refine your offers to capture more online spending.

You can tag shoppers based on what they browse or purchase this Cyber Monday and target them again next year. 

“If a customer’s ordering a pie for Thanksgiving, we want to make sure that Shopify is tagging that customer as such,” says Adam Davis, senior marketing manager at Magnolia Bakery. “So that next Thanksgiving, we could just import that list into our email database and just send an email about pies to people we know who have purchased pies in the past.”

7. Incentive to improve your ecommerce experience

Preparing for Cyber Monday may inspire you to adopt new technologies and enhance your site’s user experience (UX). 

For instance, you could invest in more server space to improve website performance or implement a personalized recommendation algorithm to encourage more purchases. You might also upgrade the mobile version of your online store to tap into the ever-expanding mobile shopping market.

How to prepare for Cyber Monday

1. Offer appealing discounts
2. Audit your ecommerce store
3. Ensure you’re leasing enough hosting space
4. Optimize your site for mobile
5. Staff up your customer support
6. Check your inventory management
7. Take extra security measures
8. Evaluate site performance

A successful Cyber Monday requires careful planning and execution. Here are some tips to help maximize your results:

1. Offer appealing discounts

Many shoppers expect deep discounts on big ticket items. You don’t have to offer jaw-dropping markdowns to win customers, but with so much competition, it’s wise to offer at least one deal.

Consider pricing strategies like buy one, get one to encourage larger shopping cart totals or loss leader pricing—selling one item at a major discount to drive sales of other purchases. 

Discounts drive sales, but overly deep cuts can hurt your profits. Know the margins on your products so you understand exactly how much you’ll make after discounts are applied.

2. Audit your ecommerce store

Before Cyber Monday, review your website. Look for ways to streamline layout, improve navigation, and increase site speed. You’re aiming for easy browsing and quick access to deals. 

Use content delivery networks (CDNs) to distribute traffic and improve load times. Make sure the checkout process is smooth and hassle-free. Display shipping thresholds on the homepage or in a header so it’s clear for customers.

3. Ensure you’re leasing enough hosting space

Avoid slow load times or crashes during the Cyber Monday rush. Ensure your hosting plan can handle the surge. Even the most loyal customers may abandon a purchase if the website won’t load. Consider using scalable cloud-based web hosting solutions.

4. Optimize your site for mobile

Estimates suggest that mobile commerce revenue will reach almost $2.5 trillion in 2025, making up 63% of total retail commerce. 

Ensure your website is fully optimized for mobile commerce to serve the large number of shoppers who use smartphones and tablets.

Shopify takes a lot of the heavy lifting out of mobile optimization. Every theme in the Shopify Theme Store is built to be fully responsive, automatically resizing images, menus, and checkout flows to fit any screen size.

5. Staff up your customer support

Increase customer service staffing to handle a higher volume of inquiries. If phone support is not an option, use live chat or chatbots to assist customers in real time. Keep your FAQ section updated to answer common questions quickly. 

This is also a good time to firm up your post-purchase support, including returns policies. 

“Whenever someone purchases from us, they’re going to get a post-purchase call from our customer service to thank the person and give them the opportunity to monetize a referral,” says Jeremiah Curvers, cofounder and CEO of Polysleep. “And they could do that very easily using Friendbuy. If they refer a friend and that email address is used, they’re going to get a $25 to $50 gift card.”

6. Check your inventory management

Monitor inventory levels and update product availability in real time to avoid disappointing customers with out-of-stock items. Shopify offers tools for mastering inventory management.

Our unified operating system connects data from your retail operations, whether it’s from your ecommerce store, marketplaces, or POS system. You can see all order, product, and customer data instantly, increasing visibility whether you’re selling D2C or B2B.

French footwear brand Odaje struggled with disconnected data across 16 physical stores and its online shop. Maintaining inventory accuracy and providing exceptional customer service was challenging without a clear, unified view. 

After implementing Shopify, Odaje connected inventory data across all its locations, improving conversion rates by 6% and increasing international sales by 25%. 

7. Take extra security measures

Protect your site by using SSL certificates to secure customer transactions and personal information. Implement measures to prevent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other malicious activities. Update all software and plug-ins to patch any vulnerabilities. Reassure shoppers that your site is secure by displaying security badges (like Norton Secured, McAfee Secure, or Trustwave) and other trust signals on your site.

8. Evaluate site performance

Continuously monitor website performance, traffic, and sales data throughout Cyber Monday. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Digital Insights, and your own web hosting platform’s analytics tools. If you run your ecommerce store with Shopify, you can take advantage of the platform’s built-in analytics and third-party analytics apps from the Shopify App Store.