By HALELUYA HADERO and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, AP Business Writers
Consumers in the United States are scouring the internet for online deals as they look to take advantage of the post-Thanksgiving shopping marathon with Cyber Monday.
Even though e-commerce is now part and parcel of many people’s regular routines and the holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday — a term coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation — has become the biggest online shopping day of the year, thanks to the deals and the hype the industry has created to fuel it.
Adobe Analytics, which tracks online shopping, expects consumers to spend a record $13.2 billion on Monday, 6.1% more than last year. That would make it the season’s — and the year’s — biggest — shopping day for e-commerce.
Online spending is expected to peak between the hours of 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday night, per Adobe — reaching an estimated $15.7 million spent every minute.
For several major retailers, a Cyber Monday sale is a dayslong event that began over the Thanksgiving weekend. Amazon kicked off its sales event right after midnight Pacific time on Saturday. Target’s two days of discount offers on its website and app began overnight Sunday. Walmart rolled out its Cyber Monday offers for Walmart+ members on Sunday afternoon and opened it up to all customers three hours later, at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Consumer spending for Cyber Week — the five major 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 the period of post-pandemic inflation, which left prices for many goods and services higher than they were three years ago. But retail sales nonetheless have remained strong, and the economy has kept growing at a healthy pace.
At the same time, credit card debt and delinquencies have been rising. More shoppers than ever are also on…
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