You already know this, but Cyber Monday is big. So big in fact, last year’s total sales hit $13.3 billion in the US alone, a 7.3% YoY growth on 2023. Stretch that to Cyber Week, and you get an 8.2% YoY growth with $41.1 billion in sales. We told you it was big.
Well, here’s a news flash: it’s gonna get bigger. Adobe forecasts that Cyber Monday will remain top dog of the online shopping holiday season in 2025, claiming a $14.2 billion in sales — another YoY growth of 6.3%.
These figures tell us that the money’s certainly out there, no doubt about that. But getting your hands on it is another story. Competition is fierce in the Cyber Monday eCommerce game, and you’ve still got your work cut out to drive sales.
So, how’s it done? Without further ado...
Practical moves
- Lean on your data to optimize deals for mobile demand waves (these can be as late as 8-11pm)
- Keep your hot SKUs near pack stations to get them out of the door fast
- Make it easy for customers to buy; offer mobile payment and guest checkout options
Practical moves
- Implement hot-zone picking for top-selling SKUs and pre-kit common bundles
- Batch single-line orders for speed
- Use exception dashboards (damages, mispicks) to flag issues early and prevent customer service tickets
3. Don’t rely on a single carrier
This goes for the entirety of the peak season, but relying on one carrier is a recipe for disaster. If you’re looking for success, think: diversification, dynamic routing, and honest ETAs.
Network strains are normal at peak, so you need to be ready when they happen. It’s simple; Cyber Monday means more packages, more pressure, more chances of things going wrong.
As we touched on earlier, US Cyber Week volumes were super high in 2024, and are expected to rise again.
It’s up to you to communicate realistic delivery windows with your customers and use a multi-carrier setup to protect your business.
Practical moves
- Contract national and regional carriers and set failover rules
- Use carrier performance data from 2024’s peak period to inform decisions
- Publish delivery cut-offs and realistic ETAs, and communicate consistently with branded tracking
4. Keep one eye on the future
We get it. When it’s the Black Friday/Cyber Monday time of year, it’s hard to think of anything else. But while one-day revenue is great, year-round loyalty is better.
Post-purchase, your brand has plenty of opportunities to impress; a smooth returns process gives you a chance of another purchase, product recommendations lead to further sales, and fast refunds make customers happy (because who doesn’t need their cash back with Christmas just around the corner?).
Retention is where your margin is. Think: when the discounts are gone, what reasons do shoppers have to stick around?
Practical moves
- Branded tracking and proactive delay notices help preserve customer loyalty
- One-click returns portals, self-serve returns, and refund on scan drive repeat purchase
- Segment your first-time shoppers and start a 30-60-90 day re-engagement plan (you’ve bought this, why not try this — you know the drill)
Practical moves
- Build a Cyber Monday scorecard (SLAs, OTDs, first-contact resolution, refund time) to track performance in each area
- Track your return reasons to give you the why behind items coming back
- Carry 2025 data and market research into 2026 peak forecasting
6. Use AI and automation
You didn’t think we forgot, did you? This year is shaping up to be another AI-driven holiday season — marketing, customer service, and even your warehouses.
The trick with AI is to enhance — not replace — human activity. Some areas to focus on are sensing demand, warehouse pick path optimization, and customer service.
A lot of AI-powered product recommendations were made during Cyber Week last year (60 billion, to be exact). The tech is there; it’s just waiting for you to take advantage of it.
Practical steps
- Use Gen-AI assisted customer service with strict guardrails and human fallback to reduce ticket influx
- Adopt AI-driven forecasting tools and techniques to avoid stockouts/excess stocking
- Personalize pre-purchase influencing and post-purchase communications with Gen-AI
A quickfire checklist to keep your brand ahead this Cyber Monday
The week before Cyber Monday is all hands on deck. The most important thing is to stay calm and believe in your systems (if you find this difficult, it could speak volumes about your current providers).
If you find yourself in a panic, follow these steps:
- Freeze any non-essential, risky changes to your eCommerce website
- Finalize the timing and sequence of all promotions, and clue in your teams
- Load-test your OMS/WMS and label printing at peak-hour rates
- Publish delivery cut-offs and capacity banners on product pages/at checkout (“High demand — orders placed today ship by Dec 2”)
- Set up a command center: ops, CX, marketing, product — one central channel for crisis/reactive comms
Why the right systems give you Cyber Monday confidence
If your systems don’t scale to meet demand, one successful TikTok campaign can derail everything (sorta the last thing you need at Thanksgiving).
If Cyber Monday makes you think ‘chaos’ rather than ‘opportunity,’ it’s usually a sign that you’ve not got the right setup.
When you start seeing fulfillment as a driver of growth — not just a business necessity — you’ll soon learn that nothing can hold you back from reaching your potential.
Systems that scale, networks with near unlimited capacity, and technology that turns pressure into performance are just some of the ways you can turn this year’s Cyber Monday meltdown into next year’s walk in the park.
By Ryan Johnson
