Cyber Monday Comes Calling: Will 2016 Be Record Breaker?

Although all festivities around the Thanksgiving Day are now past us, the shopping bonanza is far from over. Shoppers thronged stores during the Thanksgiving weekend, the four-day period starting Thursday. Online behemoths such as Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and eBay Inc EBAY as well brick-mortar stores, which have a dominant online presence as well, have another shot at glory as Cyber Monday comes calling.

Thanksgiving Weekend Sales Rise

Estimates by the National Retail Federation show that an estimated 154 million shoppers hit the stores, both stores and online in 2016 during the four-day window, up from 151 million in 2015. However, the average spending eased to $289.19 from $299.60 in 2015, with 75 percent of the spending in 2016 going toward gift purchases.

Frenzy Continues With Cyber Monday

Even as consumers are back after a spending spree during the Thanksgiving weekend, the Cyber Monday beckons them. The NRF's Cyber Monday Expectations Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics over the weekend showed 122 million Americans plan to shop online Cyber Monday, an increase from the 121 million who planned to shop last year.

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said, "Millions of consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend and reserved a portion of their budgets exclusively for Cyber Monday, knowing that there will be digital deals that are too good to pass up."

Shopping from mobile devices seems to be in the in-thing, as 28 million or roughly 23 percent of Cyber Monday shoppers plan to shop from their mobile devices, compared to 29.6 million last year. 98.6 million people are seeking to use computers at their homes to shop, the NRF survey revealed.

Expectations In Run Up To Cyber Monday

Meanwhile, Adobe Systems Incorporated ADBE 2016 Digital Insights Shopping Predictions released in late October showed that online sales could swell to $91.6 billion this holiday selling season, with $3.36 billion in sales expected to be done on Cyber Monday.

How 2015 Panned Out

Adobe's estimates for 2015 pitched the Cyber Monday sales results at over $3 billion for the first time, marking a record for a single day of online sales. Online sales for the 5-day period starting with the Thanksgiving Day totaled $11.11 million, up 17 percent year-over-year, with Cyber Monday alone accounting for $3.07 billion.

There are alluring and irresistible offers out there, including Sony Corp (ADR) SNE's PS4 Pro, which recently hit the shelves. Happy Cyber shopping folks!