Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday deals: Which are better?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days of the year. But does one day offer deeper discounts?
LEARN MOREPosted: 6:55 p.m. EST Nov 27, 2023
Remember the Black Friday fights at stores?
"People would line up early outside the stores. Now people are shopping in their pajamas," said Claire Tassin, lead retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Consult.
Those fights may be a thing of the past, but the appetite for holiday shopping is as strong as ever, with Adobe Analytics projecting Americans will spend a record-setting $12 billion this Cyber Monday.
That's coming off a record-setting Black Friday, with Adobe finding Americans spent nearly $10 billion online, a 7.5% jump from 2022.
That's compared to in-person shopping — which Mastercard found was only up 1%.
"We took a multi-year leap forward in terms of the expected online growth rate and we've basically stuck there, which I think is really interesting, like we haven't gone back to the old trend," said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.
Rossman says shoppers are desperate for deals amid high prices from inflation, and he doesn't expect a blockbuster holiday season.
"We found that one-third of holiday shoppers are specifically changing their buying plans because of inflation. Rather than splurging on clothes and toys and electronics, a lot of people have been going on trips and going out to eat and going to concerts," said Rossman.
Rossman says confidence among major retailers is still shaky heading into the end of the year, as they move a lot of merchandise at deep discounts.
"A lot of them are lamenting the fact that consumers are being stingier this year with how much they're spending, especially on discretionary kind of goods," said Rossman.
Adobe predicts overall online holiday sales will jump from last year, passing $221 billion by the end of 2023. As for future deals, Rossman say it's unlikely they'll dip any lower as retailers still want profits heading into the year-end quarter.
