Cyber Monday: A Complete Guide

For consumers, Cyber Monday is a heavily anticipated day of online deals, steep discounts, and planned purchases. That means for retailers, it’s one of the biggest sales opportunities of the year. Last year alone, Cyber Monday generated $314.9 billion. What does that mean for your business? Learning how to make the most of Cyber Monday is crucial to meet yearly goals. With the right strategies and holiday preparation, you can take full advantage of the Cyber Monday frenzy. Here’s how.

Cyber Monday is a day of online sales that falls on the Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. It’s a landmark day to kick off the holiday shopping season. Businesses incentivize shoppers with the lowest prices of the year, exclusive product launches, and more to ensure the most sales possible.

For retail leaders, the difference between Cyber Monday and Black Friday is significant, especially when it comes to preparation and execution. While Black Friday is largely centered around in-store shopping, Cyber Monday brings its own set of challenges, primarily due to its digital nature. 

Cyber Monday requires months of meticulous planning for an online storefront—ramping up website performance, optimizing for mobile, ensuring payment systems are secure, and prepping for a surge in traffic. 

Unlike Black Friday, where physical inventory can be adjusted in real-time, Cyber Monday demands heavy back-end work to ensure the site can handle the influx of online shoppers. From testing servers to ensuring a smooth customer experience, Cyber Monday is more complex and requires attention to every digital detail, making it a different beast altogether.

Fun fact: Cyber Monday was originally created in response to the growing trend of people returning to work after the holiday weekend and spending their time online shopping from their desks. Initially, it was a way for retailers to tap into the post-Black Friday sales rush and attract customers who preferred shopping from the comfort of their homes (or their offices). Over time, it gained traction as more retailers offered exclusive online deals, and by the early 2010s, Cyber Monday had evolved into one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

Below are some of the top moments of Cyber Monday and some upcoming trends retailers should expect.

• 2005: Cyber Monday begins with $484 million made in sales
• 2006: Cyber Monday starts catching on, and consumers begin viewing it as the online version of Black Friday
• 2008: The first mobile ecommerce purchases start
• 2012: Cyber Monday becomes the biggest day of online sales for the first time
• 2016: Many major retailers begin extending their Cyber Monday sales into a full Cyber Week
• 2020: Cyber Monday outpaced Black Friday in sales, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2024: Cyber Monday sales hit $12.8 billion in the U.S. (up 3% YoY) and $49.7 billion globally (up 2% YoY)
• 2024: Retailers that used generative AI saw a 2% higher conversion rate during Cyber Week

From this simple history, we can project that Cyber Monday is likely to continue growing year over year. With new AI innovations that improve customer experience, business productivity, and employee efficiency, the growth stands to be exponential. Generative ecommerce AI will likely play a large role during the 2025 holiday season, from marketing to customer service and ecommerce.

Cyber Monday is one of the most significant shopping events of the year, and it’s an opportunity for your business to drive traffic — and purchases — on your digital storefront. During the summer when consumers are thinking about vacations and warm weather, retailers are kicking holiday prep into high gear. Cyber Monday preparation is a months long, complex process. Here are a few considerations to help you fully prepare for and capitalize on this day.

The influx of visitors shopping online can overwhelm unprepared websites, leading to slow load times or crashes. On Cyber Monday, that could be damaging to not only your bottom line, but your brand’s reputation. To prevent this, consider:

• Upgrading your hosting plan to handle a higher volume of traffic
• Conducting stress tests to identify potential vulnerabilities and bottlenecks before Cyber Monday
• Using a content delivery network (CDN) to improve website speed and performance
• Simplifying navigation with clear categories and search functionality to help customers find what they need quickly

The last thing you want is to run out of stock when customers want to buy. To avoid stockouts on Cyber Monday, consider:

• Analyzing previous sales data to forecast demand and prioritize high-performing products
• Communicating with suppliers early to ensure timely inventory replenishment, so you have plenty in-stock before November
• Implementing inventory management software or ecommerce software to monitor stock levels in real time
• Offering alternatives, such as pre-orders or similar products, if an item sells out

Effective ecommerce marketing can help you stand out in the crowded Cyber Monday marketplace. Consider the following tactics:

• Create a sense of urgency with countdown timers and limited-time offers
• Use email marketing to send personalized promotions and reminders to your regular customers to encourage them to check out online holiday deals
• Utilize social media ads to target specific demographics and retarget previous visitors

Cyber Monday — and the entire Cyber Week — is prime time for your business to boost your sales and attract new customers. People are already flocking online on Cyber Monday, and you can position your company to make the most of that. To help you prepare and make the most out of Cyber Monday this year, switch to Commerce Cloud. This unified commerce platform is specifically designed to help you make the most out of your e-commerce presence and even includes Agentforce AI. With Commerce Cloud, your company can handle the load and logistics of Cyber Monday with ease.

Learn more about Commerce Cloud.