During Thanksgiving and Black Friday, online spending in the U.S. set records, with Black Friday reaching $9.8 billion, up 7.5% from the previous year, and Cyber Weekend online sales surging 7.7% to $10.3 billion.
Cyber Monday is expected to hit $12.4 billion, making it the biggest online shopping day of the year. E-commerce-focused retailers like Etsy, Wayfair, Amazon, and Shopify saw stock surges. Analysts monitor these sales as a barometer for the overall holiday shopping season.
Despite inflation and high grocery prices, the National Retail Federation predicts a 3% to 4% YoY increase in November and December sales.
Buy-now-pay-later services, including Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay, drove $5.9 billion in online spending, up 13.4% from last year. Klarna's CEO highlighted the significant market share gained by such services. New entrants like TikTok and Temu capitalized on holiday demand with promotions, offering discounts and deals.
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