Key Takeaways
• E-commerce leads shopping growth: BFCM 2024 set new milestones in online sales, with Black Friday surpassing $10.8 billion and Cyber Monday reaching $13.3 billion. Online shopping's share of holiday sales is projected to reach a record 19.7%, underscoring the continued dominance of e-commerce.
• Shoppers are strategic but willing to splurge: Despite inflation concerns, consumers prioritized value, favoring steep discounts on categories like makeup, apparel, electronics, and toys.
• AI and Mobile revolutionizing retail: GenAI significantly boosted sales, with retailers using AI seeing a 9% higher CR and increased AOV. Mobile commerce played a crucial role, accounting for over 57% of Cyber Week sales.
With cost of living and inflation front of mind for consumers worldwide, 2024’s Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) shopping phenomena was going to be anything but predictable. However, it appears shoppers were never not going to back the biggest sale event of the year, with BFCM hitting several major milestones.
As consumers leaned into the holiday spirit, Black Friday alone generated $10.8 billion in online sales, up from $9.8 billion year-over-year according to Adobe Digital Insights, marking the first time the shopping day has reached 10 billion in e-commerce sales. Between 10am and 2pm, $11.3 million was spent online every minute on Black Friday, with toys, jewelry, personal care, apparel and electronics among the top-performing categories. For context, online spending during Black Friday 2024 more than doubled what consumers spent online on Black Friday 2017.
Black Friday alone generated $10.8 billion in online sales... marking the first time the shopping day has reached 10 billion in e-commerce sales.
But it was Cyber Monday to take the win for hottest spending day; Adobe reported consumers spent $13.3 billion this year, compared to 2023’s $12.4 billion. Shopify merchants hit a record $11.5 billion in sales over the BFCM weekend, an increase of 24% on last year, with 12:01pm on Black Friday seeing $4.6 million spent per minute. Software giant Salesforce reported Cyber Week amassed $314.9 billion dollars, up 6% over 2023, surpassing their forecast of $311 billion which would account for 23% of all holiday purchases in 2024.
Adobe had forecast the peak discounts would emerge earlier in the "Cyber 5" period (between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday) with the deepest price-cuts predicted to fall on Thanksgiving. The BFCM event also considers the longer "Cyber Ten" period (the Sunday before Black Friday until the Tuesday after Cyber Monday) as seasonal sales events trended earlier this year, with widespread discounting taking place throughout November and as early as October. E-commerce marketplace leader, Amazon kicked off the season with its Prime Sale Day on October 8, before heading into Black Friday deals on November 21.
Even with optimistic forecasts, retail analysts became nervous early in November; UK e-commerce association, IMRG, revealed that the first two weeks of the month saw total market revenue declines, signalling a slow start to the sale season. Meanwhile the Business of Fashion reported that credit card data released by Earnest saw consumers spend 1.4% less at major US retailers in the first half of November compared to the same period last year, a decline unseen since 2017. IMRG additionally reported the third week of November (w/c 17th) saw the e-commerce market decline -22.8% YoY, the biggest drop since the post-lockdown period in 2022.
However, in 2023, Black Friday landed in the third week of November on the 24th, effectively skewing results on a week for week basis. This year, with Black Friday on the 29th and the Cyber 10 spilling into December, it could be said—as the record-breaking results suggest—that perhaps retailers had yet to go out with their best promotions of the period, and consumers were waiting to score the best deals during the Cyber 5. In fact, Salesforce confirmed that earlier in the year, nearly two thirds of consumers reported that they were willing to wait for Cyber Week deals to make splurge purchases.
“The sales and order growth over the last few days implies that these shoppers stayed true to their word,” said Caila Schwartz, Director of Consumer Insights at Salesforce.
Mastercard indicated that consumers pushed online retail sales on Black Friday up 14.6%, while in-store sales were up just 0.7%, compared to last year. Jewelry, electronics and apparel were cited as the top categories, with particular strength in apparel e-commerce. “They’re more strategic in their shopping, though, prioritizing promotions that they believe hold the greatest value — opening their wallets, but with more intentional distribution,” said Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard.
Salesforce found that globally makeup and apparel had the biggest average markdowns at 40% and 39%, respectively. And for high-end fashion e-tailers, that was just the beginning. Bergdorf’s offered extra 30% on sale to net discounts of up to 70% off. MyTheresa was armed with the likes of Khaite, Jil Sander, and Victoria Beckham up to 50% off, and while Net-A-Porter advertised a 50% off sale, discounts reached up to 70%. The Outnet offered an extra 25% off almost everything, and each week SSENSE dropped further sale prices, with the feature page reflecting trending brands and items (think; Jacquemus, Skims, Converse and New Balance).
Shopify quick results
- $11.5 billion in global sales from merchants, an 24% increase in sales from 2023
- 76+ million consumers worldwide bought from Shopify-powered brands
- More than 67,000 merchants had their highest-selling day ever on Shopify
- Average cart price: $108.56 ($109.70 on a constant currency basis) vs $108.21 in 2023
- Top selling countries: US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany
- Top selling cities: Los Angeles, New York, London, San Francisco, Miami
- Peak sales per minute: 12:01 PM EST on Black Friday
- Cross-border orders represented 16% of all global orders
- 58% year-over-year increase in sales made via Shop Pay
Shopify Top Products Cyber Weekend
- Clothing Tops
- Cosmetics
- Fitness & Nutrition
- Pants
- Activewear
Adobe Top Products Black Friday
- Makeup & Skincare
- Smart Watches
- Harry Potter
- Wicked Toys
- Bedding & Linens
Adobe Top Products Cyber Monday
- Bluetooth headphones
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Stuffed animals
- TVs
- Computers & laptops
BFCM Shifting Trends
Buy Now, Pay Later
The use of buy-now, pay-later services increased by 8.8% year-over-year, according to Adobe. “BNPL has become a lifeline for Gen Z, especially as they face less savings and more financial obligations,” said Sarah Davis, head of user research at finance app Cleo, regarding consumers’ holiday shopping behavior. However, for all of 2024, BNPL use is down compared to previous years.
According to Emarketer, one notable trend is an uptick in spending on big-ticket items, which likely stems from some shoppers deciding to splurge before President-elect Donald Trump’s tariffs raise prices.
“We’re seeing a shift toward trading up this year — consumers are more willing to splurge on higher-ticket items, especially when they feel the deal is strong enough,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, referring to consumer behavior when shopping items such as outerwear, jackets and accessories.
Mobile transactions
Salesforce reported mobile shopping accounted for 57% of all sales, working out to 7.6 billion dollars in spend. Mobiles accounted for 80% of US traffic to retailers’ sites and apps on Black Friday, and 73% of orders, up from 71% a year earlier. Between November 1 and November 29, mobile commerce accounted for 52.3% of online revenues, up from 51.1% a year ago, as reported by Adobe.
“Consumers have become more comfortable with [using] mobile shopping and chatbots, and this helped to prop up online growth for Black Friday,” said Pandya. “Brands that can blend e-commerce, social and mobile seamlessly are the ones that will succeed this season.”
However, desktop devices had higher conversion rates than mobile devices on Black Friday (6.5% vs 3.3%) and Cyber Monday (7% vs 4.6%) suggesting customers are more confident in securely completing purchases on the desktop, or had wishlisted items logged in on the desktop which resulted in a greater intent to purchase, or were simply shopping while back at work on Cyber Monday.
Salesforce data also indicated that marketing departments’ email sends were flat year over year. However, they increased push and SMS notifications 15% year over year. Additionally, social media channels drove 10% of all global online traffic, which is flat compared to 2023, Salesforce said. In the U.S., social media drove 11% of online traffic, also flat year over year.
Generative AI
Salesforce reported that during the first half of Cyber Week, retailers using GenAI and agents in their service experience saw a 9% higher conversion rate compared to retailers who are not.
...retailers using GenAI and agents in their service experience saw a 9% higher conversion rate compared to retailers who are not.
“For an industry that is often concerned with margins, especially ahead of rising costs in 2025, this percent increase is a game-changer,” Caila Schwartz, Director of Consumer Insights at Salesforce.
Since the start of October, digital retailers using generative AI and digital agents and chatbots have increased their average order value by 7% compared to those without the technology ($117 vs. $109). AI and agents were also responsible for driving 17% of global orders through personalized recommendations, targeted promotions, and smarter customer service. Traffic on sites that use AI to help users navigate and search was up 1,800% from last year's Black Friday, Adobe reported.
E-commerce first
Crossing the $10 billion mark is a big e-commerce milestone for Black Friday, for a day that in the past was more anchored towards in-store shopping”, said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “And with consumers getting more comfortable with everything from mobile shopping to chat bots, we have tailwinds that can prop up online growth for Black Friday moving forward.”
Forecasts expect online sales to grow 9.0% in the final two months of the year. That will push e-commerce’s share of overall holiday sales to a record 19.7%, which equates to a 80-basis-point increase over last year. Comparatively, this is an increase of 130 basis points higher than in 2020, when consumers only had the choice to shop online. Meanwhile, traffic in stores on Black Friday and Saturday was slightly down to flat from a year ago. Pass-by, an AI-powered geospatial insights company that tracks store visits, reported live that over 143 million shoppers had visited U.S. retailers by 11:30 a.m on Thanksgiving, though, in-store foot traffic was down by 3.2%, according to insights agency, RetailNext.
These BFCM trends reveal how technological advancements, strategic pricing, and evolving consumer behaviors are reshaping the holiday shopping landscape. Understanding these shifting shopper habits is key for retailers to not only navigate this shopping event, but continue profitable success into 20205.
For an in-depth look at the profitable strategies retailers and brands can implement now to take full advantage of unprecedented BFCM data, download Style Arcade’s Profit Playbook.
