Black Friday & Cyber Monday Combined Holiday Spending Grows

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Holiday Spending is Growing as Expected

Though investors had reason to be concerned following reports of unexpectedly weak Black Friday spending, by the time all was said and done for the all-important period between Thanksgiving evening and the end of Cyber Monday, consumers (XLY) (XLP) stepped up to the plate... again. But, much like Black Friday has been spread out across several days, Cyber Monday is now an all-weekend affair rather than just the first workday back from Thanksgiving weekend.

On Cyber Monday itself, U.S. consumers spent a total of $3 billion online (XRT), making it the biggest U.S. internet-shopping day ever (Alibaba's (BABA) Singles-Day sales extracted $14.3 billion from Chinese consumers, which is the world's record). Between Thursday and Monday, however, U.S. consumers spent a total of $11 billion shopping online. That was a 15% improvement versus the year-ago figure of $9.4 billion.

That $1.6 billion improvement in online spending also offset the $1.2 billion dip in Black Friday spending at brick-and-mortar stores. In-store shopping fell from $11.6 billion on Black Friday of last year to $10.4 billion this year, as consumer found other times and ways to shop. Even adding in the $200 million decline in brick-and-mortar spending on Thanksgiving evening this year, internet shopping for the long weekend more than made up for it.

In early November the  National Retail Federation projected a 3.5% improvement in 2015's holiday spending, above the average 2.5% increase seen over the past decade. So far, that outlook appears to be on target.