TL; DR
The 2025 holiday season is expected to cross one trillion dollars, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday will drive a major share of that number, despite tariffs and ongoing uncertainty.
We treat Black Friday and Cyber Monday like they’re twins. But once you look at how people shop on each day, they behave like complete opposites.
Cyber Monday drives 23–27% more online sales, reaching $13.3 billion in 2024 compared to Black Friday’s $10.8 billion. But reach tells a different story, Black Friday pulls in far more online shoppers. In 2024, around 87.3 million shoppers bought something online on Black Friday, compared to 64.4 million on Cyber Monday.
That happens because shoppers lock in the big stuff on Monday. Laptops, monitors, gadgets and accessories tend to peak then, which means the carts are heavier and the intent is higher.
Though interestingly, Black Friday’s online sales grew 10.2% last year. Cyber Monday grew 7.3%. So even though Cyber Monday still wins online dollars, Black Friday is gaining speed as more shoppers shift their BF browsing and buying onto digital channels.
Black Friday pulled in 87.3 million online shoppers and 81.7 million in-store, almost a perfect half-and-half. Cyber Monday, on the other hand, was basically all-online with 64.4 million shoppers.
So, lumping both days into one generic “BF/CM strategy” is the fastest way to miss what’s actually happening.
It comes down to understanding what separates the two: participation versus intent, browsing versus buying. And once you see that split, you can use it to your advantage instead of worrying about which day is bigger.
When you zoom in on categories, the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday becomes crystal clear. They don’t attract the same shoppers, and they definitely don’t sell the same products.
Toys explode across both days, with Cyber Monday driving the peak
Parents clearly timed big toy purchases across both days, helped by 26–28% average toy discounts on each.
Electronics lean sharply toward Cyber Monday
Basically, electronics is the category that defines Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday also offered the deepest electronics discounts at 30.1%, slightly higher than Black Friday levels.
For the full season, electronics generated $55.3 billion (+8.8% YoY), making it the single largest category in the entire holiday period. This is why Cyber Monday carts are heavier, and shoppers save their laptops, monitors, earbuds, and tech accessories for Monday when the digital discounts peak.
Home goods, appliances, and jewelry favor Black Friday
Some categories simply perform better when shoppers can interact with products before buying:
These are touch and feel categories. Even when the final checkout happens online, the discovery often starts in-store or through browsing on Black Friday.
Beauty and personal care explode on Cyber Monday
Beauty and personal care behave more like digital-native categories. It’s an unexpected lift, but it’s understandable. Once people get into the buying mindset, they tend to finish their holiday shopping in one go.
Apparel performs well on both days because the category responds strongly to discounts, and shoppers are used to buying fashion across both channels.
NIQ Cyber Week 2024 Report found that:
These trends show that home improvement categories continue to hold momentum globally.
If you’re in home goods, appliances, furniture, TVs, jewelry → your biggest lift happens on Black Friday. If you’re in electronics, beauty, toys, accessories → your highest conversions happen on Cyber Monday.
In 2024, mobile devices made up nearly 80% of all Black Friday site traffic, but that didn’t translate into equal conversions. Cyber Monday saw 57% of all online sales come from mobile, while Black Friday sat at 69%.
Desktop shoppers converted at 6.5%, while mobile sat at 3.3%. That’s roughly a 2× conversion advantage for desktop, even though most people rarely start their shopping journey there.
Why the split?
People browse casually on their phones throughout the day, but when they are ready to complete a purchase, especially a higher-value one, they prefer a larger screen, a stable environment, and a checkout flow that feels less cramped.
The gap is closing, though. Mobile conversion rates climbed from under 2% in 2020 to over 3% in 2024, and because the volume is so massive, smartphones now generate the majority of revenue even with lower per-session conversion.
BNPL has become one of the biggest drivers of Cyber Monday spending. It is expected to push $20.2 billion in online spend this holiday season, which is about $2 billion more than last year’s $18.2 billion.
Cyber Monday is where it peaks. BNPL usage is projected to cross $1 billion for the first time, reaching $1.04 billion. Black Friday will still be strong at $761.8 million, but Cyber Monday remains the bigger BNPL day because shoppers use it for higher-ticket items.
It is also a mobile-first behavior. Around 79% of BNPL spend will come from phones this season, roughly $15.6 billion. That matches Cyber Monday’s late-night mobile traffic surge when shoppers browse and buy after work.
For merchants, the takeaway is straightforward.
If you want to lift Cyber Monday conversions and AOV, you need BNPL to be visible and easy to select. The shoppers who arrive on Monday may be fewer than Black Friday, but they spend more, and they rely on flexible payments to complete the purchase.
If you really want to see how different Black Friday and Cyber Monday are, just look at when people actually spend their money.
Black Friday peaks in the late morning: 10am to 2pm EST
Black Friday is a daytime event. Online sales hit their strongest momentum between 10am - 2pm, with spending hitting $11.3 million per minute at its peak.
Most of this traffic comes from mobile, usually around 70–76% during the mid-day window because shoppers are browsing on the go, comparing prices while out, or buying quickly between other plans. It’s fast, high-volume, and get-it-done shopping.
Cyber Monday peaks at night: 8pm to 10pm EST
Cyber Monday behaves like a completely different event.
The late-night window from 8pm to 10pm is where spending climbs to $15.8 million per minute, the highest spend intensity of the entire year.
The behavior makes sense:
Desktop conversions are almost 2× higher than mobile, and the evening surge reflects that perfectly.
Adobe reports that on Cyber Monday, affiliates and partners, which includes social media influencers, drove 20.3% of all online revenue, up 6.8% year over year.
Shoppers coming from influencer content were 6 times more likely to buy compared to those coming from general social media.
Social influence is expected to surge this holiday season
Social media’s share of online revenue is expected to grow 51% YoY in 2025, compared to just 5% YoY growth in 2024. Affiliates and partners, which include social media influencers, are also projected to grow 14% YoY.
Paid search and email will still drive strong traffic and sales, but more shoppers are gonna discover products through social platforms and creator content.
According to the recent survey by the 2025 Deloitte Holiday Retail Survey, younger shoppers continue to drive most of BFCM.
Overall BFCM participation reaches 82%, but Gen Z pushes it even higher with 92% planning to shop. Millennials stay close at 79%. Gen Z’s influence shows up everywhere now. They control $20 of every $100 spent during the holidays, which is $4 four years ago.
Spending declines, but not for everyone
Shoppers expect to spend $622, down 4% YoY. Gen Z and Millennials plan to keep spending flat, while Gen X and Baby Boomers expect cuts of 9% and 12%. Gen Z is more willing to adjust budgets to participate; 56% say they will cut other expenses to shop during BFCM.
Financing shapes Cyber Monday behavior
About 64% of shoppers plan to use credit cards or BNPL to stretch their BFCM budgets, and those who use financing spend 12% more than the average shopper. Millennials lead credit card usage at 60%, while Gen Z leans heavily toward BNPL, aligning with Cyber -Monday’s higher-ticket categories like electronics and personal tech.
Gen Z is the group pushing BFCM deeper into omnichannel territory. Less than 45% of their in-store spending happens close to home, while other age groups stay above 50%. More than 55% of their spending during peak moments is omnichannel, compared to around 30% for everyone else.
They check prices online, confirm stock, and then show up in stores when it benefits them. They also shop earlier than any other group. On Black Friday, over 45% of Gen Z spending happens between 6 AM and 9 AM. Their spend in that window is 30% higher than the next closest generation.
Cyber Monday and Black Friday don’t just differ in traffic, the money inside each cart is completely different. Last year, the gap was massive.
Cyber Monday:
Black Friday:
All these numbers make one thing obvious. Black Friday and Cyber Monday might sit a weekend apart, but the mechanics behind them couldn’t be more different. And it does make you think about what else we might be overlooking.
