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Cyber Monday is one of the biggest sale days of the year, with an emphasis on online shopping. Whether you’re snagging major deals on items you’ve been eyeing all year, or looking for holiday gifts for less, here’s what you need to know about the annual sale day.
When is Cyber Monday 2025?
Cyber Monday is a major retail event that happens the Monday after Thanksgiving. In 2025, Cyber Monday is Dec. 1.
When is Cyber Monday 2026?
Cyber Monday 2026 will fall on Nov. 30.
What is Cyber Monday?
In some ways, it’s a byproduct of Black Friday, which was once primarily a brick-and-mortar shopping event.
“Black Friday started out as one day. And then with the rise of the internet and online shopping, they've kind of realized, ‘oh, we can capitalize on this. We can have an in-store day, and we can have an online day,’” says Samantha Gordon, a deals editor at Consumer Reports.
The after-Black Friday online sale holiday can be traced to 2005 when the National Retail Federation gave the day an official name, Cyber Monday.
Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
When’s the best day to shop? Well, more people — 87.3 million — shopped online on Black Friday 2024. On Cyber Monday that year, 64.4 million shopped online. NerdWallet’s holiday shopping experts also have found that Cyber Monday tends to have the better deals in categories like kitchen gadgets.
Cyber Monday trends
Cyber Monday has grown in popularity over the years.
Online shoppers spent a record $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday in 2024, according to Adobe, and remained the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day.
This may be unsurprising because why stand in line at a store front when you can shop from the comfort of your desk, or, better yet, your couch?
But even Cyber Monday, once reserved for online retailers, has morphed into an event brick-and-mortar retailers participate in too, says Gordon.
“More in-store sales are starting to match what we're seeing online,” Gordon says. “It's becoming more like Black Friday in that way, where retailers are kind of looking for people to come into stores as well,” says Gordon.
You may still get a better price online, though, Gordon says.
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How to prepare for Cyber Monday
Go into Cyber Monday with an idea of what you want, a target price and a spending limit.
1. Set a realistic budget
The combination of sales and holidays can give you a dopamine rush, but remember to use a budget to ground yourself. Consider using a 50/30/20 budget template to avoid taking money from your necessary expenses or cutting into money allocated for paying down debt and saving. The 50/30/20 method breaks spending into needs, wants and savings. You can also create a specific holiday budget to keep yourself in check.
2. Compare prices
Seeing price slashes on Cyber Monday can create a sense of urgency and distract you from doing your research. Compare prices before shopping to ensure you’re truly saving money on the items you buy. Use tools such as Google Shopping and Yahoo Shopping to quickly consult prices at multiple retailers.
“It takes a few extra seconds, but it can make the difference in your budget of saving here or there, especially shopping online,” Gordon says.
While you’re at it, take some time to review the details of the thing and the store. Is it durable? Are the measurements ideal? What do reviews say? Is it a bulky item that’ll be a hassle to repack and costly to return?
3. Pay attention to return policies
You may be buying items for yourself or gifts for others during Cyber Monday sales. Sometimes, returns are inevitable, which is why you should check the return policy before hitting “buy.”
Gordon says save gift receipts for the stuff people send you and keep receipts and email confirmations for what you buy in stores to make returns easy.
4. Use credit cards strategically
Did you just open a new account and need to meet the minimum spend on a credit card to get a bonus? Do you have a card that gives cash back for spending? You might as well shop strategically so you end the year with cash or rewards. To avoid debt, make sure that if you put Cyber Monday purchases on a card, you pay the balance in full when the bill comes.
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