Consumers across the United States are scouring the Internet for online deals to take advantage of the post-Thanksgiving Cyber ​​Monday shopping marathon.

Even though e-commerce is now part of many people’s everyday lives and part of the holiday shopping season, Cyber ​​Monday – a term coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 – has become the biggest online shopping day of the year thanks to the deals Hype that the industry has created to fuel it.

Adobe Analytics, which tracks online purchases, expects consumers to spend a record $13.2 billion on Monday, up 6.1% from a year earlier. That would make it the biggest shopping day of the season – and the year – for e-commerce.

For several major retailers, a Cyber ​​Monday sale is a one-day event that began over Thanksgiving weekend. Amazon kicked off its sales event just after midnight Pacific Time on Saturday. Target’s two-day discount offers on its website and app began overnight Sunday. Walmart launched its Cyber ​​Monday deals for Walmart+ members on Sunday afternoon and opened them to all customers three hours later, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

Consumer spending for Cyber ​​Week – the top five shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber ​​Monday – provides a strong indication of how much shoppers are willing to spend for the holidays.

Many U.S. consumers continue to experience sticker shock following a period of post-pandemic inflation that has left prices for many goods and services higher than they were three years ago. Still, retail sales remained strong and the economy continued to grow at a healthy pace.

At the same time, credit card debt and defaults are increasing. More shoppers than ever are also on track to take advantage of buy now, pay later plans this holiday season, allowing them to delay payments on holiday decorations, gifts and other items.

Many economists have also warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States next year would lead to higher prices for everything from food to clothing to cars.

The National Retail Federation expects holiday shoppers will spend more this year both in stores and online than last year. However, the pace of spending growth will slow slightly, the trade group said, to 2.5% to 3.5% – compared with 3.9% in 2023.

A clear picture of consumer spending over the holiday season will only emerge when the government releases sales data for the period, although preliminary data from other sources shows some encouraging signs for retailers.

According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. shoppers spent $10.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 10.2% year over year. That’s also more than double what consumers spent in 2017, when Black Friday brought in around $5 billion in online sales. Consumers also spent a record $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, according to Adobe.

Software company Salesforce, which also tracks online purchases, estimated that Black Friday online sales totaled $17.5 billion in the U.S. and $74.4 billion worldwide.

E-commerce platform Shopify said its merchants made a record $5 billion in sales worldwide on Black Friday. At its peak, sales reached $4.6 million per minute – apparel, cosmetics and fitness products were the top-selling categories, according to the Canadian company.

According to Adobe, the toys, electronics, home goods, self-care and beauty categories were among the top drivers of holiday spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The “hot products” included Lego sets, espresso machines, fitness trackers, makeup and skincare.

Other data showed that physical stores had fewer customers on Black Friday, underscoring that the large crowds once synonymous with the day after Thanksgiving are now happy to shop from the comfort of their own homes.

RetailNext, which measures real-time store foot traffic, reported that its initial data showed Friday store traffic in the U.S. fell 3.2% from a year ago, with the largest decline in the Midwest.

Sensormatic Solutions, which also tracks store traffic, said its preliminary analysis showed retail store traffic fell 8.2% on Black Friday compared to 2023.

Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, noted that store traffic was spread out over multiple days as many retailers offered generous discounts before and after Black Friday.

“Some of the extended Black Friday promotions actually resulted in slightly weaker traffic than expected,” Gustafson said.

While physical items like toys and electronics are always popular around the holidays, experts note that in recent years, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic eased, consumers have turned more toward “experiential spending.”

Jie Zhang, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, told The Associated Press ahead of the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend that he expects shoppers to “treat themselves a little bit more” when it comes to self-gifting goes .

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AP business reporter Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report from New York.