Cyber Monday 2025 Smashed Expectations: What the Data Reveals

As holiday shopping intensifies and brands assess what is working, it might seem like the major sales peaks have already passed. Cyber Monday 2025 tells a different story and shows that the real momentum is only accelerating. For ecommerce brands and deal-seekers, Cyber Monday 2025 proves that the real momentum is only starting.

This year, Cyber Monday remained the second-largest online sales day in the United States, generating a record-breaking $14.25B USD in spending, which equals $16M USD spent every minute. Black Friday 2025 also set a new record with $11.8B in online spending, up 9.1% from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. Shoppers leaned even more heavily on new digital tools to hunt down the best deals, making this season’s online frenzy stronger than ever.

We’re breaking down this year’s performance with a recap of standout metrics, unexpected winners, and what these signals mean for founders planning for Q1. With 76% of U.S. adults shopping online and 75.9M Cyber Monday shoppers, the momentum is far from over.

Global ecommerce sales are projected to reach $8.14T by 2026. Our goal is to equip ecommerce brands with the insights they need to optimize inventory planning, sharpen marketing execution, and refine capital strategies heading into 2026. The mission is simple: convert holiday traffic into sustained Q1 growth.

Cyber Monday Recap by the Numbers: How 2025 Stacks Up

Cyber Monday 2025 reinforced its position as one of the biggest spending days in ecommerce. Cyber Week data shows another record-shattering performance with $14.2B USD in Cyber Monday sales and $44.2B USD across the broader Cyber 5 period.

To maintain momentum amid more cautious spending, many retailers launched early BFCM offers throughout the week leading up to the five-day stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. This strategy paid off.

Black Friday 2025 alone reached $11.8B USD in online sales, up 9.1% from 2024, with overall ecommerce sales surging 10.4% YoY. This is a stark contrast to the smaller 1.7% increase in in-store sales, as shoppers traded schlepping shopping bags for frictionless online carts. These trends reinforce what the data has signaled for years: peak-season purchases are increasingly moving online. Cyber Monday 2025 remains a clear indicator of where consumer demand is heading next, with a record-breaking 20M shoppers active over Thanksgiving weekend.

How Consumers Shopped in 2025: Faster, Smarter & Mobile

The shift from in-store shopping to ecommerce is nothing new, but this year, the digital gap widened dramatically. Here are the standout  trends.

AI Transformed  the Way Consumers Shopped This Year

Consumers leaned into tech-driven ways to find deals, compare products, and make faster decisions, resulting in a clear reflection of AI-driven shopping behaviors.

• Surge in AI Traffic: On Cyber Monday 2025, retailers saw a staggering 670% increase in direct traffic attributed to Generative AI Chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity, as shoppers were routed straight to retail sites after querying for the best deals. This builds on the 1,950% jump in 2024.
• The Lasting Role of AI: The role of AI commerce is reshaping how brands are discovered and how purchasing decisions are made during major holidays. Adobe reports that more than half of consumers expect to use AI assistants for shopping by the end of 2025.
• Black Friday Impact: Black Friday 2025 also saw an 805% increase in AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites compared to 2024.
• A Core Driver: AI-driven discoverability is no longer a novelty; it’s a primary driver of ecommerce traffic. Salesforce forecasts AI agents will influence over $73B in online sales globally this year.

Mobile Commerce Became the Default Shopping Channel

While AI captured much of  the spotlight, mobile shopping continued to dominate holiday sales.

• Mobile's Share: Mobile shopping generated $8.2 B USD and made up 57.7% of all online sales.
• A Rapid  Shift: This is an increase of 7.8% from $7.6 B USD last year (57% of online sales, reinforcing that consumers are shopping wherever they are and expect seamless mobile experiences.
• The Cost of Not Being Mobile Ready: Brands that haven't designed  their shopping experience for mobile-first discovery and checkout are leaving revenue on the table.

Consumers Are Spending Smarter, Not Bigger

Despite easy access to online shopping, many consumers are tightening their wallets due to economic factors like inflation, tariff pressures, and evolving consumer sentiment.

• Tighter Budget: A recent consumer survey by the National Federation Retail shows consumers budgeted an average of $890 for gifts, a decline of 1.33% from last year.
• Prioritizing Value: Holiday sales are expected to reach $1T USD for the first time. However, shoppers are cutting back and prioritizing essential, value-based purchases over high-ticket items.
• BNPL Adoption: To avoid dipping into savings, many shoppers opted for Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) payment methods, which are projected to reach $20.2B USD in spending this year.

Cyber Monday 2025 Is the Pulse Check for What Comes Next

As the dust settles after a record-breaking Cyber Monday, one thing is clear: consumer demand spans the entire weekend and well beyond it.

Cyber Monday 2025’s results signal enormous potential for a record-breaking holiday season, but only for brands that plan ahead, stay agile, and fund opportunistically. With 55% of consumers shopping online during the holiday season and Cyber Week’s $44.2B combined spend, DTC brands face massive volume in a short burst.

The next step is simple: move fast and capture demand. Brands need capital and inventory readiness for the entire peak window and the months that follow, not just a single-day spike.

With rising volatility in consumer behavior, fiercer competition, and longer supply chain lead times, waiting until the last minute to fund inventory or marketing almost guarantees missed opportunities and inflated costs.

Coming out of Cyber Week, the smartest ecommerce brands are already shifting into post-holiday planning. Cyber Monday should be the springboard into Q1, not the finish line. Funding early with working capital is the financial strategy winning brands use to place Q1 purchase orders, launch retention campaigns, and reinvest in growth while competitors reflect on BFCM performance.

The time to solidify capital planning is now. Clearco helps founders build the cash flow flexibility they need to carry Cyber Monday momentum straight into Q1. If you’re building out your Q1 roadmap, secure ecommerce growth capital now, don't wait for orders to pile up.