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In the United States, November is the time for the Christmas shopping frenzy, especially when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

It begins the day after Thanksgiving, but hungry-for-sales merchants start promotional campaigns in early November.

💲🔥💲 Join this hot seasonal stream of fine income with our video guide! 💲🔥💲

If it fits you more, you can read the text version of the overview. 

eCommerce sales in 2020-2021

Total holiday online sales in 2020 were 186 billion dollars, mostly spent on Cyber Monday. The Cyber Monday became the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history, reaching around $10.8 billion in online sales. 

There are predicted 2021’s sales in $ billions by day:

Cyber Monday – $11.38

Black Friday – $9.53

Thanksgiving  – $5.43

Sunday – $5.04

Small Business Saturday – $5.02

Why do Americans go on a shopping spree during the holiday season?

🤪 Opportunity to get Christmas shopping done at a discount (the most suitable option for such a holiday combo!)

🤪 Irrationally purchases when there is time pressure (the pressure itself makes people act fast and unconsciously in most cases)

🤪 Fear of losing out on big-ticket items due to limited quantities in stock (the thought of losing an opportunity to save a great deal of money make shoppers go really crazy)

🤪 Competition makes the hunt for purchases even more enjoyable (we’re all genetically programmed to be hunters. And people chiefly do love games).

Early promotion as an extra marketing push 

During the 2020 holiday, retailers launched the early promotion of online deals, convincing shoppers to buy earlier and faster due to shipping delays and limited stock. 

It’s an efficient ploy to get more sales.

This year, marketers are threatening customers that they will try their luck with the availability of an item on Cyber 5, in case they don’t buy it beforehand.

Key numbers of 2021’s season sales

🛒 Estimated retail E-commerce holiday season sales in 2021
$207 billion

🛒 E-commerce as a share of total holiday sales
19%

🛒 Average online order value
$153

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the main marks in the shoppers’ holiday calendars

Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights surveyed 1,000 online shoppers in September 2021. 54% of them said they plan to shop online on Cyber Monday. 56% intended to go online shopping on Black Friday.

Black Friday 56%

Cyber Monday 54%

Thanksgiving weekend (Saturday–Sunday) 30%

Free shipping day 26%

Day before Thanksgiving 25%

Thanksgiving 23%

Green Monday 10%

The most leading categories in the USA, 2020

🍩 Grocery/beverage ☕ 216.0 %

💪 Health/fitness/nutrition specialty 115.8%

🏠 Home improvement 84.8%

📺 Consumer electronics/major appliances 70.6%

🐶 Pet specialty 67.2%

🛍 General merchandise 47.6%

🧴 Beauty/personal care 40.3%

🛏 Home/decor/furniture 34.1%

👕 Apparel/footwear 👟 15.3%

🛒 Department store 8.3%

E-commerce CR in the United States during the holiday season

In 2020, Cyber Monday had the highest e-commerce CR in the United States during the holiday season, regardless of device.

Black Friday came in second place.

Shopping day	CR of Device	CR of Device
	Laptop and other devices	Smartphone
Cyber Monday	7.20%	3.31%
Black Friday	6.82%	3.05%
Small Business Saturday	5.76%	2.63%
Day before Thanksgiving	4.68%	2.09%
Thanksgiving	4.65%	2.30%
Veterans Day	4.50%	4.50%

Revenue generated via devices

The majority of the revenue of the U.S. holiday sales season was generated via desktop and tablet devices in 2020. The share of mobile usage for making purchases increased — up to 39%.

Year	DeviceDevice	CR
2019	Desktop	60.4%
	Smartphone	34.5%
	Tablet	5.1%
2020	Desktop Tablet	61% For 2020, desktop data includes tablet.
	Smartphone	39%

Desktop e-commerce spending in 2020

In 2020, the online spending of desktop users reached appox. $6 billion – a 30% increase compared to the previous year.

Black Friday spend hit $4.3 billion, while shoppers spent $2.7 billion on Thanksgiving.

Shoppers by Age and Source

According to an August 2021 survey (2092 respondents), when it comes to holiday gift shopping, the most influential social network for women is Facebook, while YouTube mostly influences men’s holiday purchase decisions.

Source	Gender	Gender
	Male	Female
Facebook	44%	46%
Instagram	37%	37%
YouTube	49%	32%
Pinterest	15%	30%
TikTok	21%	26%
Snapchat	16%	13%
Twitter	25%	10%
Other social platform	4%	4%
None of the above	29%	30%

Online shopping by generation

🤳 8 of 10 US Gen Z and millennial shoppers intend to use a smartphone to buy holiday gifts in 2021.

👨‍💻 More than half of boomer buyers (57 years and older) choose desktops for their holiday shopping.

💬 About 80% of Gen Z and millennials reported using social media platforms for doing that.

📵 60% of older shoppers report having no interest in shopping via social media.

🤑 The biggest spenders are millennials aged 24 to 35. They spent an average of $419.52 per person. 

The right targeting is an essential part of an efficient ad campaign. Note this data before you set the targeting parameters of your US campaign.

Online shopping in the USA beyond the holiday period

The online shopping market is a fast-growing and prosperous segment of US economics.

The USA is one of the richest countries in the world that has a GDP per Capita of $69,380, being expelled by Luxembourg – $131.300, Ireland – $102,390, Switzerland – $93,520, and Norway – $82,240.

💻 More than 263 million (80%!) Americans shop online

💲 62% of Americans make more than one online purchase a month

💻 Americans spent $431.1 billion in online shopping in 2020

💲 Online sales are anticipated to surpass $1 trillion by 2022. In 2021, they are estimated at $933 billion.

Quite a nice combination of facts for discovering the US market, right?

Let’s learn more about the shoppers that contribute to the above-mentioned imposing statistical data. 

Digital buyers by age

Millennials (25–34) are the largest age group that shops online.

Digital buyers aged 35-44 come second.

Share of digital buyers	Age
20.2%	25–34
17.2%	35–44
15.5%	45–54
14.6%	55–64
14.4%	65+
13.0%	18–24
5.2%	14–17

Sources: Statista.com, Digital Commerce 360, The International Monetary Fund, Washington Post

What do we have at the final stage? The cocktail that comprises two main ingredients:

1️⃣ longing shoppers ready to spend pleasant sums on making purchases

2️⃣ appropriate space and time to satisfy their hunger

Taste it and bring your US affiliate experience to a new level!

Mix them up efficiently with us!

Benefit in the USA with AdCombo

🗽 We have unique hybrid Nutra offers that combine COD offers with SS  ones, while others have only SS offers for the USA. With the hybrid model, a user can decide upon whether to 💵 pay in cash or 💳 online for an order placed.
In case the user leaves the payment page, a 📞 call center agent will contact them to finish the sale.

🗽 The landing pages have short forms for a higher CR

🗽 Many 🇪🇸 Spanish-speaking people living in the US prefer to pay in cash, so you’ll get an extra TA with the fitting payment option and creative materials in Spanish!

🗽 You can run campaigns in the USA like you do in Latin America, but with ×2 payout rates and without lead caps!

What sources to use?

Ready to start discovering new opportunities in America? Or get advice from our managers first!