Cyber Monday Trends: Online Shopping to Jump 35% in 2020

Online shoppers in the U.S. are expected to drop a record-busting $12.7 billion on Cyber Monday -- the busiest e-commerce day of the year -- presenting a valuable opportunity for retailers whose websites, customer service departments and delivery operations can withstand the period of crushing traffic.

Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc., Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and others have been preparing for the 2020 holiday deluge for months. This week will be the ultimate test for their new investments in ramping up delivery capacity and adding features like parking lot pickup for digital orders.

The Covid-19 surge kept crowd-averse shoppers away from physical malls on Black Friday, reinforcing predictions that online shopping will soar this year. Adobe Analytics predicts that spending Cyber Monday spending for 2020 will climb by 35% -- more than double the growth rate in the years prior to the pandemic.

Nearly 30% of Cyber Monday spending will happen between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Pacific time, when bargain-hunting shoppers finally pull the trigger, the firm said in a statement Monday.

“Consumers will likely take advantage of the best discounted items today like TVs, toys and computers before price levels start creeping back up throughout the rest of the season,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights.

All that spending in a compressed time means that any service interruptions on Cyber Monday -- slow websites, payment processing problems, shopping carts that vanish before checkout -- could be painful for companies.

“Even large retailers could be crippled with the demand,” said Mario Ciabarra, chief executive officer at Quantum Metric, which helps online retailers fix website problems.. “Every minute counts and every customer counts.”

There were already signs that some web stores are struggling to handle the load. Sites for prominent retailers had 39% more errors on Black Friday than they did a year ago, according to Quantum Metric.

U.S. shoppers spent $9 billion online on Black Friday, according to Adobe Inc., missing its forecast of $10.3 billion, indicating shoppers reacted to deals earlier in the holiday season and warnings about potential shipping problems in December.

This year, retailers have been enticing people to shop earlier in the season to avoid capacity problems. But Cyber Monday will likely still be the peak, because many shoppers are conditioned to hold off on big purchases in anticipation of price cuts.

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