The entire world waits for results from Cyber 5, the all-important holiday shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Yes, literally waits. Why? Because 68% of U.S. GDP is driven by consumer spending, and the holidays are by far the biggest time for this.
Cyber 5 sales numbers are strong indicators of the health of the U.S. economy. Businesses, financial institutions, politicians – everyone is keeping tabs on these performance results.
Since 2008, NetElixir has been tracking hourly ecommerce revenue data for its customer base of mid-size and large retailers. We use this aggregated information to analyze trends and gain holiday shopping insights. Our analysis is well regarded in the industry by financial analysts, retail merchants, and industry publications.
So, what did Cyber 5 have in store for 2019?
Key Stats and Trends from 2019 Cyber 5
We saw a 23% Y/Y increase in ecommerce revenue and a 26% increase in the number of purchases (orders). The average order size fell by 6% due to some deep discounting by retailers. Cyber Monday accounted for 35% of total Cyber 5 online sales.
Thanksgiving is increasingly becoming a major shopping day: This year, 13% of all Cyber 5 sales happened on Thanksgiving Day, up from 11% in 2018.
Some of the other interesting trends we observed included:
- 49.5% of all Cyber Monday orders happened between 6:00 PM and midnight.
- Average cart size was at its highest on Black Friday. Despite major discounts, shoppers bought a higher number of products/units on Black Friday.
- Mobile phones drove 31% more orders this year. For categories like women’s apparel and cosmetics, mobile drove over 70% of all orders.
Overall, retailers couldn’t have asked for a stronger start to the holiday season. The challenge now is maintaining this momentum through the end of the holidays.
Week-by-Week Holiday Order Growth
Our experts have created a week-wise Y/Y order growth table that retailers can use to forecast demand and plan their marketing dollars:
| 12/1-12/7 | 12/8-12/14 | 12/14-12/21 | Total Y/Y Growth in Orders | |
| Y/Y Growth in Online Orders | 17% | 15% | 21% | 18% |
Assuming the current level of discounting continues, leading to a 6% lower AOV compared to last year, our forecasted Y/Y revenue growth for 12/1 to 12/21 is 15%.
For a complete analysis and breakdown of our data, you can watch the full recording of our Cyber 5 results webinar below:
More Holiday Insights to Come
We’ll be publishing the actual weekly Y/Y data on our blog along with any pertinent insights for the week. So stay tuned for more holiday knowledge to make this your strongest year yet!
If you haven’t already, we also recommend checking out our holiday resources for retailers, including our new 2020 New Year’s Resolutions eBook! This free downloadable booklet features 10 key steps your business can take to hit the ground running in 2020.
