Deal-hunters fuel $12 billion US Cyber Monday shopping spree

By Ananya Mariam Rajesh, Deborah Mary Sophia and Siddharth Cavale

(Reuters) -Retailers hit the "send" button on push notifications, text messages and video streaming ads to reach U.S. shoppers on Cyber Monday, touting heavily discounted cosmetics, electronics, toys, clothing and other products.

Spending online on Cyber Monday is set to reach as much as $12.4 billion, according to Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks data through Adobe's Experience Cloud service for e-commerce platforms.

That would represent a record and an increase of more than 5.4% compared with a year ago, Adobe said. Last-minute shoppers on Monday could spend $4 billion between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST alone, it said.

Other firms use different measurements to gauge purchases on Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year in the United States.

Salesforce, which tracks data flowing through its Commerce Cloud e-commerce service, said online sales on Cyber Monday were up by 4% by 4 p.m. EST, hitting $7 billion by late afternoon. Growth was primarily driven by units purchased rather than inflation, signaling increased consumer demand, Salesforce said.

Shoppers have been hunting for deals since 12 a.m. on Monday with transactions during the first 12 hours of the day exceeding those during the same time frame in 2022, according to data firm Criteo, which tracks sales from more than 700 brands and retailers in the United States made on all devices.

Bargain-hunters turned out in force to snag heavy discounts on bags and luggage, toys and furniture, which were the top-performing categories during that period, the firm said.

Some investors voiced pessimism in the wake of Black Friday and Cyber Monday figures. According to Brian Yacktman, president of YCG Investments and a shareholder in Nike and Amazon.com, the current sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when adjusted for inflation, suggest a potentially lackluster holiday season for retailers.

"Inflation dampens the impact, making it less of a significant boost than it might initially seem," said Yacktman.

Charles Sizemore, chief investment officer at Sizemore Capital Management, said he expects retailers to have to discount more in the weeks ahead.

This makes him worried about profit margins at a time input and labor costs have not come down and shoppers continue to be picky. "I really think margins are going to be depressed," during the holiday season, said Sizemore, whose firm holds about $2 million of shares each in Walmart and Target .

Amazon began marketing Cyber Monday Deals as early as Saturday, including discounts of up to 46% on some Instant Pot kitchen appliances, 37% off certain Vitamix blenders, and 35% on Amazon devices including a 55-inch Amazon Fire TV.

Walmart, eager to capture market share, slashed prices on Sunday night, joining the trend of retailers' early discounts on major shopping days. On Monday, Walmart stepped up discounts on some clothing to 60%, up from the 50% it offered on Black Friday.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale and Arriana McLymore in New York, and Deborah Sophia, Aishwarya Venogupal and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in BengaluruEditing by David Gregorio, Nick Zieminski and Matthew Lewis)