Shopify blog
Cyber Monday is the Monday after Black Friday, and one of the year’s biggest online shopping days. And, this sales period seems to be growing more and more, year after year. In 2025, Shopify merchants generated a record $14.6 billion in sales over the weekend, up 27% from the previous year, according to the latest Black Friday Cyber Monday data. More than 81 million customers bought from businesses powered by Shopify, and sales peaked at $5.1 million per minute on Black Friday.
For ecommerce retailers, Cyber Monday (which falls on November 30 this year) creates a short, high-volume sales window. This guide covers how to plan ahead by preparing offers, managing inventory, and handling fulfillment demand.
What is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States, when ecommerce retailers run online promotions during the holiday shopping season. The term was introduced in 2005 by Shop.org, then established by the National Retail Federation’s digital division, after retailers noted higher online sales on this day.
Cyber Monday is part of a longer sales period. The National Retail Federation (NRF) tracks the five-day holiday shopping weekend from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, and defines the holiday season as November 1 through December 31. Many retailers now run promotions across Black Friday, Cyber Week, and early November.
Cyber Monday vs. Black Friday: Key differences
| Comparison point | Black Friday | Cyber Monday |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Day after US Thanksgiving | Monday after US Thanksgiving |
| Main channel | Stores and online | Online |
| Shopper behavior | NRF’s top shopping day overall | NRF’s second online shopping day |
| Merchant planning implication | Plan stores, inventory, staffing, fulfillment | Plan site, campaigns, discounts, fulfillment |
Black Friday, which falls on the day after US Thanksgiving, includes both in-store and online sales. Whereas, Cyber Monday takes place the following Monday and is centered on online discounts.
The NRF says Black Friday is the top shopping day for both in-store and online shopping, while Cyber Monday is the second most popular day for online shopping.
Black Friday started as an in-store shopping event, with retailers using doorbusters and limited-time offers to bring shoppers into physical stores. Today, retailers also run online Black Friday campaigns.
Cyber Monday, as the name implies, began as an ecommerce-focused sales event. Online stores use it to offer digital-only discounts, continue Black Friday promotions, or run separate deals for online shoppers.
Shopper behavior differs between the two events. Black Friday is associated with larger purchases, such as TVs, appliances, and laptops. Cyber Monday is used for online gifting, smaller purchases, and follow-up holiday shopping.
The history and evolution of Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday started in 2005 as a term for the Monday-after-Thanksgiving spike in online shopping, then grew into a digitally centered deal day, expanded into Cyber Week, and became increasingly shaped by mobile-first shopping.
Origins in 2005
The term “Cyber Monday” was officially coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation to describe a spike in online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving. Comscore later reported that online retail spending reached $484 million on Cyber Monday in 2005.
Growth timeline: 2019-2025
Cyber Monday grew as ecommerce became a larger part of holiday shopping.
In 2019, Comscore reported that Cyber Monday digital spending reached $7.9 billion, up 31% from the year before. By 2025, Shopify merchants generated $14.6 billion in sales across the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend, up 27% from 2024.
The shopping period also expanded beyond one day. The NRF reported that a record 202.9 million consumers shopped from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday in 2025, up from 197 million in 2024.
Mobile shopping revolution
Cyber Monday was once tied to desktop shopping, especially when faster internet access was more common at work than at home. But in 2019, Comscore announced that mobile purchases accounted for more than 40% of Cyber Monday digital spending, up from 35% in 2018.
Mobile shopping has continued to grow: In 2025, the NRF said that 46.9 million consumers shopped online via mobile devices on Cyber Monday, up from 40.4 million the year before.
For store owners, this makes mobile speed and accelerated ecommerce checkout options like Shop Pay a key part of Cyber Monday planning.
Cyber Monday 2026 trends and statistics
Since final 2026 results are not yet available, the latest trend data comes from 2025 holiday results and 2026 ecommerce indicators.
Sales projections and growth
US ecommerce continued to grow in early 2026. Census Bureau data shows retail ecommerce sales reached $326.7 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 9.8% from the first quarter of 2025. Ecommerce accounted for 16.9% of total retail sales during the quarter.
Cyber Monday also continued to grow online in 2025. Mastercard SpendingPulse reported that US online retail sales on this day rose 7.4% year over year.
The sales period has expanded, too—it now starts well before Cyber Monday on many retail sites. Amazon’s 2025 Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday event ran from November 20 through December 1, and covered deals across more than 35 categories.
Popular product categories
Product demand varies by platform, but Shopify stated that its strongest Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) product categories were cosmetics, clothing tops and pants, activewear, and fitness and nutrition.
Marketplace promotions also centered on high-demand gift categories. Amazon’s 2025 Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday event included up to 50% off select electronics and beauty products, 40% off select toys, and 40% off select kitchen essentials.
Consumer shopping behavior
Cyber Monday shopping is increasingly planned across several days. PwC’s 2025 Holiday Outlook found that 39% of planned holiday gift spending was expected to happen between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. And almost 80% of holiday gift budgets will have been spent by the end of Cyber Monday.
Shoppers are also using Cyber Monday deals to manage budgets. Deloitte’s 2025 Black Friday Cyber Monday survey found that 82% of surveyed consumers planned to shop during BFCM, up from 79% in 2024. Average planned spend was $622, down 4% year over year. It additionally reported that 64% of surveyed BFCM shoppers planned to use credit cards or BNPL services to stretch their budgets.
AI is also becoming part of gift discovery. Mastercard announced that 42% of consumers in its Shopper Snapshot survey were already using AI tools to help with gift buying.
Benefits of participating in Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday gives ecommerce stores a concentrated window to increase sales and reach new shoppers. Here are the main benefits of Cyber Monday and how to prepare your store.
| Benefit | How it helps | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Increased sales and revenue | Higher online traffic lifts order volume during Cyber Monday and Cyber Week. | Set discount limits so sales volume still supports margin. |
| Customer acquisition and retention | Limited-time offers bring in first-time buyers and give past customers a reason to return. | Plan follow-up emails, loyalty offers, or replenishment reminders before the sale starts. |
| Clearing old inventory | Discounts move slow-selling products or seasonal stock before demand shifts. | Prioritize items with overstock risk, margin room, or limited future demand. |
| Brand exposure | Cyber Monday campaigns put your brand in front of shoppers comparing deals. | Keep offer terms consistent across email, social, paid ads, and onsite messaging. |
| Marketing opportunities | The event gives retailers a reason to run email, SMS, paid search, social, and retargeting campaigns. | Segment offers by shopper type, such as new buyers, repeat customers, subscribers, or inactive customers. |
| Customer data and retargeting | Holiday traffic shows what shoppers browse, buy, or abandon. | Review consent, applicable privacy laws, data minimization, unsubscribe and opt-out expectations. |
| Improved ecommerce experience | Cyber Monday prep reveals gaps in site speed, mobile checkout, product discovery, and abandoned-cart recovery. | Test mobile pages, search, checkout, payment options, discount codes, and support coverage before launch. |
How to prepare for Cyber Monday
A successful Cyber Monday requires careful planning and execution. Use this BFCM checklist to prepare for the shopping event:
- Plan Cyber Monday offers
- Audit your store and checkout
- Prepare for mobile shoppers
- Staff customer support
- Check inventory before Cyber Week
- Protect customer data and accounts
- Track performance during the sale
1. Plan Cyber Monday offers
Every offer needs a margin target. Review product costs, average order volume, and expected discounts to understand how each sales promotion affects profit.
You can use offers like buy one, get one or loss leader pricing to increase cart size. A loss leader works best when the discounted item leads shoppers toward higher-margin products, bundles, or add-ons.
Automatic discounts can make the offer easier for customers to use. Shopify lets stores create automatic discounts that apply when customers meet the offer requirements. Customers can see the discount in the cart and at checkout.
2. Audit your store and checkout
Before Cyber Monday, walk through the store the way a shopper would. Start with the sales page, and move all the way through completing a test checkout. Follow this audit checklist:
- Sale navigation. Test homepage banners, menu links, and sale collection links. Each path should take shoppers to the right Cyber Monday offer.
- Product-page load speed. Open key sale products on desktop and mobile. Check whether images, prices, variants, and add-to-cart buttons load without slowing down the page.
- Cart and checkout flow. Add sale products to the cart and navigate Shopify Checkout. Review the steps for shipping details, order review, payment selection, and order placement.
- Shipping threshold visibility. Look at the homepage, header, and cart. Set a free shipping threshold that shoppers can see before they reach checkout.
- Discount application. Run a test order for each Cyber Monday offer. Check that the discount applies when the shopper meets the requirements and that the final price is clear.
- Shop Pay availability. Review the checkout experience for eligible shoppers. Check that Shop Pay appears as an option when it should.
- Payment options. Assess the payment methods shown in checkout. Keep the options you plan to offer active before the sale begins.
Learn how to use Shopify analytics before launch to review store activity. Look at traffic, conversion rate, cart activity, checkout activity, and sales by channel to identify points where shoppers may be leaving the purchase path.
3. Prepare for mobile shoppers
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.
Before launch, check that mobile shoppers can:
- Find Cyber Monday offers from the homepage or menu
- Add products to cart without layout issues
- Use Shop Pay or other active payment options
- Complete checkout without pop-ups blocking the screen
4. Staff customer support
Increase ecommerce 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 up to date to address the most common questions efficiently.
You can also utilize customer service features to convert one-time buyers into long-term customers, plus bring in new potential shoppers in the process. “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.”
Shopify Inbox makes this type of exchange even easier, as it can help teams manage customer messages during the sale. Stores can respond from desktop or mobile, share product links, and send discount codes in a conversation.
5. Check inventory before Cyber Week
Monitor inventory levels and update product availability in real time to avoid disappointing customers with out-of-stock items.
Shopify offers a number of tools for mastering inventory management. Its 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%.
6. Protect customer data and accounts
Review how customer information is handled and who can access your store. The FTC recommends taking stock of the personal information your business saves: Keep only what you need, protect the data you retain, securely dispose of records you no longer need, and create a plan for security incidents.
For Shopify stores, start with account access:
- Review staff accounts in Shopify admin. Each person should use their own login.
- Match permissions to each person’s role, such as order management, product updates, or customer support.
- Turn on account security features where available, including two-step authentication or passkeys.
- Remove access for people who no longer need it.
- Review connected apps and keep only the apps your team still uses.
Staff should also know how to spot common scams before sales traffic increases. The FTC suggests that small businesses watch for phishing emails, fake invoices, urgent payment requests, and messages asking for passwords or sensitive business information.
Write down a simple response path before launch. Include who reviews a suspected issue, which systems they should check first, and when to contact Shopify Support or a legal/privacy adviser.
7. Track performance during the sale
During Cyber Monday, use Shopify analytics and reports to watch how the sale is performing in real time. Focus on the metrics that show whether shoppers are finding offers, moving through checkout, and completing purchases.
Track:
- Traffic by channel. See which campaigns, emails, ads, or referrals are bringing shoppers to the store.
- Mobile performance. Compare mobile traffic and conversion with desktop so you can spot device-specific issues.
- Cart and checkout activity. Watch add-to-cart rate, checkout starts, and completed purchases. A sudden drop can point to issues with discounts, shipping, or payment.
- Sales and order value. Review total sales, order count, and average order value during the sale.
- Product demand. Check top-selling products and inventory levels so you can adjust merchandising or promote backup items.
- Fulfillment status. Monitor order volume and fulfillment progress so the team can keep up after the sale.
To see even more detailed reporting, check out the Shopify App Store—it features analytics apps for custom reports, profit tracking, surveys, and customer behavior insights.
Cyber Monday FAQ
What’s the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday is a retail sales event that takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It centers around brick-and-mortar stores. Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend and focuses on online shopping.
When is Cyber Monday 2026?
Cyber Monday 2026 falls on November 30. It takes place the Monday after Black Friday and the Thanksgiving weekend.
How long does Cyber Monday last?
Cyber Monday is a one-day shopping event, but many retailers extend promotions across Cyber Week. Some stores also start holiday sales earlier in November.
Is Cyber Monday only online?
Yes, Cyber Monday is only online. Retailers may run related promotions across other channels, but the event is built around ecommerce sales.
What happens on Cyber Monday?
On Cyber Monday, ecommerce retailers run online promotions to increase holiday sales. Stores offer discounts, promote gift categories, and manage higher order volume than regular shopping days.
