According to a report by adobe, online consumer spending by usa consumers on this year's "Cyber Monday" reached 13.3 billion USD, an increase of 7.3% compared to Cyber Monday 2023, surpassing the 10.8 billion USD online consumer amount on Black Friday.

Media reports indicate that in recent years, the sales volume in physical stores on Black Friday has remained sluggish, with consumers primarily purchasing various holiday discount commodities online, from electronics to toys. Experts say that this year's discounts are greater, as consumers wait for those heavily promoted days. For example, Target announced that its "two-day Cyber Monday" event starts on Sunday, offering half off on thousands of commodities, including video games, home decor, and other technology products.

Currently, sales data for the holiday shopping season in usa is mixed, with consumer spending in physical stores on Black Friday being relatively flat. According to preliminary estimates from payment processing company Mastercard, sales at physical stores on Friday only increased by 0.7% year-on-year. Meanwhile, data from company Facteus shows that sales actually declined.

However, online retailers like walmart and amazon are relying on generative ai customer service and search functions to help consumers more easily find commodities on their websites and mobile applications.

Caila Schwartz, director of consumer research at Salesforce, stated that generative ai (GenAI) tools can answer basic product inquiry questions for online shoppers, enabling retailers to protect their profit margins amidst rising costs.

According to estimates by Salesforce, retailers using generative ai tools for customer service on Saturday saw a 15% increase in user purchase rates. Schwartz noted that this higher "conversion rate" could change the online shopping ecosystem. Adobe also stated that from Black Friday to the weekend, retail website traffic from chatbots or user clicks on website links increased by 1950% on Cyber Monday.

Additionally, according to Salesforce data, online shopping activities during "Cyber Weekend" before Cyber Monday grew by 9%, higher than 6% in 2023. Nevertheless, the average discount rate in usa this year has decreased by 2% compared to last year, standing at only 28%.

Schwartz stated, "Although consumers have high expectations and careful planning for 'Online Shopping Week', this year's discounts did not fully meet expectations. Nevertheless, consumers have still been shopping in large quantities so far, demonstrating their resilience and enthusiasm in seizing seasonal offers."

Cyber Monday was first proposed by the National Retail Federation in the usa in 2005, when online shopping was just beginning to rise. Cyber Monday was initially a shopping event launched by e-commerce companies trying to capitalize on the shopping frenzy of Black Friday, which was almost entirely dominated by in-store shopping at that time. The original intention was for usa consumers to place orders via their work computers using the emerging internet after taking breaks on Thursday and Friday during the Thanksgiving holiday, along with the weekend, when they returned to the office on Monday.

But now, everyone can go online through their mobile phones, and most e-commerce transactions are also completed via mobile devices. Additionally, many online discount events start a few days before Thanksgiving and continue after the holidays, meaning that consumers no longer need to wait until Monday to find deals.

Therefore, since 2019, the number of consumers shopping online on Black Friday has surpassed that on Cyber Monday.

Editor/ping