The Cyber Monday Shopper

You could call the days after Thanksgiving the mother of all shopping weekends. If you’re like me, you’re always looking for deals; the post-Thanksgiving spend-a-thon is no different.

After looking at the Black Friday shopper we looked into the shoppers of Cyber Monday, a term coined over 10 years ago, and found there are two types of Cyber Monday shoppers – the trend follower, and the diligent shopper looking to save money through doing their fair share of research.

First, let’s explore the basics:

20% of U.S. Adults say they are very likely to shop on Cyber Monday this year. This is in line with what we saw last year.

Who are they?

No surprises, really: 18-34 year-olds are more likely to shop Cyber Monday. These shoppers are also more likely to also be organic food shoppers.

When it comes to occupation, those who work in Computer/Technical/Medical as well as homemakers are more likely to shop on Cyber Monday.

On which device are Cyber Monday shoppers, shopping?

Computer Cyber Monday Shoppers

When it comes to the devices Cyber Monday shoppers use to submit their orders, computers take the cake with 24% of respondents. This is somewhat surprising to me off the bat, that smartphones aren’t higher for ordering (but we’ll get to that). 

But, could this be about ease of use? The ability to have many tabs open at once, looking for the best price? The next results may point to yes. The desktop Cyber Monday shopper is 4x more likely to utilize online reviews pre-purchase and more likely to search multiple sites for the best price.

So, when it comes to advertising for the best price and Cyber Monday promos, brands and retailers should consider sticking with desktop ads, while smartphone shopping could potentially be all about the impulse buys.

Netflix users are more likely to answer computer, as well as those who closely follow technology trends.  That surprised me as I figured the streaming-savvy, tech-conscious shopper would be more into making purchases from a smartphone. To me, it seems as though the desktop Cyber Monday shopper is a more concise planner when it comes to what they purchase. They likely plan out their purchase ahead of time or at least have something specific in mind.  

Similar to the Black Friday online findings, the Cyber Monday shopper is all about searching for the right price, perhaps on an item they already want.

Smartphone Cyber Monday shoppers

Only 10% of respondents will use smartphones for the majority of their shopping on Cyber Monday.

The biggest difference I found between the Cyber Monday computer shopper and the smartphone shopper is how closely smartphone shoppers follow trends.

The smartphone Cyber Monday shopper is all about trends: they are more likely to want or own a smartwatch, follow cooking/food trends and chose products as well as music based on social media influence. They are also more likely to be regular fast food diners, wine drinkers, and of course, heavy social media users.

As far as age goes, both those on the computer and those on smartphones for Cyber Monday are more likely to be 18-34.

So, similar to the Black Friday online shopper findings, looking for a specific deal is key to the Cyber Monday shopper, especially those on their desktop. I think this could paint a bigger picture for retailers moving forward into the regular shopping year: smartphone shoppers may be all about chasing trends, while desktop shoppers are concerned about getting the right thing after doing their research.

It could be about limited quantities vs. saving on a big purchase. At the least, it’s something for retailers to think about.