Consumers engaged in a record-breaking Cyber Five buying spree of sorts and drove even more growth ahead of the traditional holiday shopping season for 2024, driving online sales for the critical five-day shopping period up 6 percent in the U.S. compared to the comparative period last year after posting double-digit growth in the week leading up to the all-important weekend that is the traditional start to the overall holiday shopping period.

Commerce protection provider Signifyd* said their data and analysis sees the fast start as a positive sign for the remainder of the holiday shopping season. Consumers did not wait around for the retail calendar of analysts’ timelines to get ahead of the game as they appeared to have abandoned the traditional shopping calendar in 2024, pushing sales growth up 15.7 percent in advance of Cyber Week than during the event itself.

The “solid, if not stellar, performance” was said to be in line with findings by Salesforce and Adobe, which put online sales growth for the period between 7 percent and 8.2 percent, based on differing methodology.

“The stretch of holiday spending is a sign that inflation-weary shoppers are still willing to spend, but that they are also intently focused on getting the best value for their money,” Signifyd said in its analysis.

Signifyd Cyber Five data also showed:

  • Online shoppers spent more than 3X as much on Cyber Monday than they did on the average day in 2024, according to Signifyd’s Cyber 5 Live Globe.
  • Only 25 percent of products were selling at their lowest prices of the year during the Cyber Five period.
  • The top-selling products during the Cyber Five period included Birkenstock Boston Clogs, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, HP 15.6 inch laptops and Aeron chairs.
  • Online general merchandise retailers saw sales spike 19 percent year over year on Cyber Monday and luxury sales were up 8 percent for the day.

Cyber Five 2024 Posts Record-Breaking Sales Days
Signifyd said online consumers in the U.S. spent a combined $41 billion during the Cyber Five period, according to data compiled by Adobe. Shoppers patronizing the thousands of merchants on Signifyd’s Commerce Network broke sales records during the long weekend stretching from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.

“The holiday home stretch looks very positive for retail based on the sales volume Signifyd merchants saw over the Cyber Five,” said Signifyd CEO Raj Ramanand. “Consumers on Signifyd’s Commerce Network spent billions on the period’s key shopping days, at times surpassing a rate of a million dollars a minute. Our merchants were clearly ready for the biggest event of the year and we’re all heartened to see the success they achieved.”

Cyber Five E-Commerce Sales by Major Category
2024 v. 2023

Cyber Week Provides Momentum in a short Season
The year-over-year increase in sales sends a positive message to merchants who this year face a compressed traditional holiday period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

On Cyber Monday, online sales were up 2 percent with general merchandise and luxury goods leading the way, Signifyd data shows. Overall sales on Cyber Monday fell below Signifyd’s pre-season projection, another sign that the impact of big shopping-event days might be waning.

“Consider how sales were pulled forward in the lead up to the Cyber Five. Online sales spiked — up 15.7 percent year over year — in the week preceding the Cyber Five, according to Signifyd data, an indication that consumers are not tied to the traditional shopping calendar,” the company wrote.

Discount Codes More Prevalent in 2024
Shoppers also reportedly remained focused on finding good deals and lower prices — a value consciousness that Signifyd says appears to be the new normal.

“This year, 35 percent of orders included a discount code, up two percentage points from last year,” the company reported. “And the size of the average discount increased to 28.8 percent, up from 26.5 percent [last year].”

Signifyd said consumers continued to trade down — “presumably opting for lower-priced versions of coveted gifts.”

Shoppers reportedly added 5 percent more items to their digital shopping carts the 2024 Cyber Five period compared to a year ago, but the items selected were on average 6 percent cheaper than last year.

*Signifyd provides an end-to-end Commerce Protection Platform that leverages its Commerce Network to maximize conversion, automate customer experience and eliminate fraud and consumer abuse risk for retailers.

Image courtesy Birkenstock/Instagram