As we wrap up the biggest shopping week of the year, there are many stories and trends emerging that may foretell the results of the rest of the 2023 holiday season. Catch up on all the biggest stories from Cyber Week in our Weekly Must Reads.

Black Friday Sees Record-Breaking Online Sales

Once again, the annual Black Friday shopping holiday has driven record-breaking sales for retailers. According to Forbes, online sales rose by 7.5 percent year-over-year, totaling $9.8 billion. In-person shopping traffic was also reportedly up by about 2 percent, and the most-shopped product categories included clothing and shoes, personal care, kitchenware, and jewelry. Online, more consumers gravitated toward items in the toy, gaming, and technology categories.

Despite Black Friday’s strong results, some analysts have recently lowered their predictions for holiday spending this season. Financial services provider TD Cowen now expects 2023 holiday spending to increase by 2 to 3 percent over 2022, down from its previous prediction of 4 to 5 percent. Check out more key stats on Black Friday spending here:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2023/11/26/black-friday-online-sales-up-75-and-in-store-shopping-visits-up/?sh=5e0ff5646118

Cyber Monday Exceeds Expectations

Adobe’s projections show Cyber Monday became the largest online shopping day on record, with more than $12.4 billion in total online sales yesterday. As of 6 pm EST on Monday, sales had already topped $8.3 billion, with numbers for the highest-traffic evening hours still yet to be counted. With Monday’s strong results, Cyber Week’s total sales surpassed $38 billion, nearly one billion more than the originally forecasted total of $37.2 billion.

Interestingly, though total sales rose year-over-year, the average transaction size decreased slightly for most major retailers. Some experts hypothesize that consumers as a whole are more budget-conscious this year, leading many to wait and consolidate their smaller-than-average purchases during Cyber Week, where they can get the most bang for their buck. Find out more about early Cyber Monday 2023 results here: https://fortune.com/2023/11/27/cyber-monday-forecast-record-holiday-online-sales/

Mobile Shopping and Patient Consumers Win Cyber Week

In a Black Friday first, more than 50 percent of the day’s impressive online sales came from a mobile device rather than a desktop or laptop computer. Smartphones accounted for $5.3 billion total sales on Friday, a 10.4 percent increase over 2022, according to Adobe Analytics. Experts also noticed that sales were more heavily concentrated on Black Friday than they had been in 2020 or 2021, leading many to believe consumers are significantly more price-conscious this year and willing to wait to purchase until they find the very best deal.

Although consumers aggressively hunted for the best discounts online, the trend didn’t seem to cross over to in-person shopping. Many consumers are no longer willing to line up hours before opening to take advantage of “doorbusters” at their local stores. Instead, retail stores are seeing more consistent traffic throughout the day, as well as more shoppers choosing to buy online and pick up their orders in-store. Read more about Black Friday’s biggest winners and losers here: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/winners-losers-black-friday-2023/700668/

Amazon’s Big Cyber Week

As usual, online retailer Amazon ruled over the extended Black Friday – Cyber Monday shopping weekend. Their “holiday shopping event,” which lasted 11 days from November 17 to November 27, generated more than one billion purchased products, resulting in the company’s largest sales period to date. Amazon also acquired millions of new Prime members throughout the event, as more consumers signed up to earn the most savings.

According to the retailer, tech and beauty have ruled the holiday shopping season so far, with their top-selling items including the Ring Video Doorbell, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Bissell Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner, Hero Cosmetics’ Mighty Patch and COSRX Snail Mucin. Amazon also noted that customers purchased more “Climate Pledge Friendly” items during Cyber Week than ever before, indicating consumers’ growing awareness of their shopping habits’ effect on the environment. Catch up on more noteworthy trends from Amazon’s holiday shopping event here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-best-sellers-black-friday-cyber-monday-2023