Amazon scored a record-breaking Cyber Monday, marking its busiest shopping day to date.
Amazon once again outdid itself during the red-letter sales days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with the latter being the biggest shopping day for the company worldwide. According to Amazon, more items were purchased on Cyber Monday than any other single day in its history.
The popularity of Amazon Fashion was evident, with Cyber Monday being the biggest shopping day for the category worldwide. However, the platform also saw significant sales in electronics, with the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote being among the best-selling items in the U.S. Interestingly, non-Amazon items also found favour with shoppers, with an Instant Pot and iRobot Roomba being popular choices.
The success of Amazon was not isolated. Other retailers also reported increased online sales during Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Best Buy, Nordstrom, Walmart, and Amazon itself saw an average increase in online order value, with Best Buy recording a $18 increase, Nordstrom a $17 increase, Walmart an $11 increase, and Amazon a $4 increase.
While Amazon dominated the sales charts, it was not the only retailer to see growth. Edison Trends found that Nordstrom and Walmart had the biggest year-over-year gains for Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping, with a 60% and 53% rise respectively, followed by Amazon with a 49% increase.
However, the success came at a cost. Wells Fargo's Fitzgerald stated that his team has lowered their estimates for Amazon's operating income and earnings in 2020 and 2021 due to ongoing investments in 1-day Prime delivery. The delivery speed-up is costly, more so than some analysts had expected, leading to these lowered estimates.
The growth in sales was not limited to the U.S. Amazon customers bought a record number of Amazon Devices globally over the holiday weekend, with the sales of third-party sellers on Amazon also increasing significantly compared to previous years. In fact, 2019 marked one of the strongest growth years for these sellers, although exact comparative figures are not specified in the searched documents.
Amazon offers various fulfillment options to cater to its customers' needs. These include pick-up at retailers like Whole Foods, free one-day delivery of over 10 million items for Prime members, and same-day delivery of millions of items to Prime members in 46 major metropolitan areas.
Despite the success, not all analysts are optimistic about Amazon's future growth. Instinet analyst Michael Baker stated that Amazon's growth is decelerating. However, the company's consistent performance during major sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday suggests that it remains a force to be reckoned with in the retail industry.
Adobe reported record Cyber Monday sales of $9.4 billion in wider retail, indicating a robust holiday shopping season. With the holiday season still in full swing, it will be interesting to see how the retail landscape evolves in the coming weeks.
