Black Friday has become history as Cyber Monday makes its own history breaking records year after year as shoppers choose online means to make their holiday purchases. For the first time in history, consumers spent over $3 billion on their smartphones alone. One thing that should be noted is that most retailers started Cyber Monday very early basically rolling Black Friday sales into those.
Shoppers are expected to each spend an average of $637 this holiday season.
Don’t forget that Cyber Monday is basically a week long event and for you gamers, here are the hottest deals continuing. You can also check out all of our Holiday Gift Guides that cover every topic possible.
Cyber Monday is still holding up as the biggest online shopping day of the year, even though many of the same deals have been available online for weeks and the name harks back to the days of dial-up modems.
Check out more 12 Days of Deals as Cyber Week Continues
Shoppers are expected to spend a record $9.4 billion on purchases made on their phones and computers Monday, up about 19% from last year’s Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at 80 of the top 100 U.S. online stores.
The busiest time is expected to be in the hour before midnight, as people race to take advantage of discounts before they disappear.
Cyber Monday was created by retailers in 2005 to get people to shop online at a time when high-speed internet was rare and the iPhone didn’t exist. The idea was to encourage people to shop at work, where faster connections made it easier to browse, when they returned from the Thanksgiving break.
“It’s somewhat antiquated,” said Rob Graf, vice president of strategy and insights at cloud computing company Salesforce, which tracks shopping behavior of the online stores that use its platform. “But retailers are still using it as a big milestone and driving heavy discounts.”
At least one brand played up Cyber Monday’s origins: Bonobos, the men’s clothing seller owned by Walmart Inc., photographed models posing with clunky computers and black-and-white TVs for its site.
“Boot up the dial-up,” one of its Cyber Monday ads said.
On average, retailers offered 30% off on Monday, the steepest discounts of the year, according to Salesforce.
Some have been offering deals for days. Amazon started offering Cyber Monday deals on Saturday, calling the three-day extravaganza “Cyber Monday Weekend.”
Walmart kicked off online discounts for the holidays a week before Halloween. It was a way to combat the shortened holiday shopping season.
Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. This year, that was Nov. 28, cutting the typical time between Thanksgiving and Christmas by nearly a week, making it the shortest stretch between the two holidays since 2013.
Adobe said the bestselling toys on Cyber Monday were those related to the “Frozen 2” movie, “Paw Patrol” show and the LOL Surprise brand. TVs from Samsung and laptops by Apple were also hot sellers. And Amazon’s devices, such as its voice activated Echo, did well, too.
Not all online shopping ended with a box being delivered. Despite frightful weather in parts of the U.S. this weekend, buying online and picking up in a store has become a popular option, growing 43% so far from last year.
“These services are breathing new life into physical stores,” Adobe said. “And we expect growth to climb as we get closer to Christmas.”
Breaking Cyber Monday 2019 Down
- Total sales hit $9.4 billion—up nearly 19% from a $7.9 billion haul last year, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions from a majority of top U.S. online retailers. That’s bigger than both Black Friday ($7.4 billion) and Amazon Prime Day ($4.2 billion last year).
- As shoppers increasingly move to digital rather than in-person spending, online sales via smartphones grew 46% from last year, accounting for 33% of all Cyber Monday sales in 2019—at a new record of $3 billion, according to Adobe Analytics data.
- During the peak hour of shopping between 11:00 p.m. ET and midnight, consumers spent $11 million on average every minute, Adobe said.
- The top-selling products on Monday included Frozen 2 toys, the Nintendo Switch, VR devices, Samsung TVs, LOL Surprise Dolls, Apple laptops, NERF products and video games like Madden 20 and Jedi Fallen Order, Adobe’s report shows.
- With more competition among retailers than ever, the report also highlights the 41% growth of BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store) services this year, as shoppers increasingly looked for maximum convenience and time-saving.
- “Customers increasingly have a bigger basket of fulfillment options,” points out Morningstar analyst Zain Akbari, with more large retailers like Walmart and Target increasingly competing to offer cheaper and more efficient pickup or delivery services.
Riot Games $10 Million Dollar Fee
Back in August of 2019, Santa Monica based video game developer Riot Games settled a class-action lawsuit filed against the company alleging sexual harassment and discrimination. This happened shortly after an article from Kotaku appeared in 2018 describing a “toxic culture” at Riot.
“This is a very strong settlement agreement that provides meaningful and fair value to class members for their experiences at Riot Games,” Ryan Saba of Rosen Saba, LLP, who represented the plaintiffs, said Thursday in a statement. “This is a clear indication that Riot is dedicated to making progress in evolving its culture and employment practices. A number of significant changes to the corporate culture have been made, including increased transparency and industry-leading diversity and inclusion programs. The many Riot employees who spoke up, including the plaintiffs, significantly helped to change the culture at Riot.”
The maker of the popular video game League of Legends has agreed to pay $10 million to female employees to settle a broad gender discrimination case.
Los Angeles-based Riot Games will pay about 1,000 current and former female employees who have worked at the company in the last five years.
The case against Riot Games claimed the company paid women less than men, passed them over for promotions and fostered a “bro culture” that excluded them.
“We are grateful for every Rioter who has come forward with their concerns and believe this resolution is fair for everyone involved,” Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent said in a statement. “With this agreement, we are honoring our commitment to find the best and most expedient way for all Rioters, and Riot, to move forward and heal. Over the past year, we’ve made substantial progress toward evolving our culture and will continue to pursue this work as we strive to be the most inclusive company in gaming.”
In March, Riot hired its first chief diversity officer, Angela Roseboro, to address the company’s culture. Following the walkouts, Riot issued a statement in support of the organizers and said it would not be able to announce policy changes while in active litigation.
The lawsuit claims that culture led to sexual harassment and misconduct. Allegations of misconduct against women have plagued the video game industry for years.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Ryan Saba, said the large settlement amount shows that Riot was serious about changing its culture.
A Riot spokesman, Joe Hixson, said the company was pleased to have a settlement that resolved the lawsuit, calling it an important step that demonstrates Riot’s commitment to creating an “inclusive environment for the industry’s best talent.”
The court is expected to confirm the settlement this week.