16 Largest Online Sales Days in History

Category

Market Insight

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eCommerceStatistics

Author

Nadia

Published

Oct 21, 2022 4:03 PM

Online shopping has become widely popular in recent years, leading companies to create shopping holidays such as Cyber Monday to get customers spending.

But what exactly are the biggest online sales days worldwide?

The answer may surprise you!

To give you a full vision into online shopping, we’ve compiled the top online shopping seasons and dates.

With these numbers, you’ll have a better idea of how to plan your business for online sales on these peak days.

Largest Online Sales Days Table

🍁 Biggest Online Sales – Seasons

Some shopping holidays don’t last just one day. Here are the biggest online shopping seasons that go on for days or weeks around the world.

1. Chinese New Year ($660.3 billion)

➡️ When: Late January-Early/Mid February

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, had a whopping $660.3 billion worth of online payment transactions processed by the People's Bank of China in 2022.

This is an impressive 11.6% year-over-year increase, elevating this two-week holiday as the #1 online sales season.

2. U.S. Holiday Season ($209.7 billion)

➡️ When: Late November-Until New Year’s Day

According to Adobe Analytics, online sales during the U.S. holiday season have increased from around $100 billion in 2017 up to $204 billion in 2021, and this figure is expected to reach (between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31) $209.7 billion in 2022.

U.S. Online Holiday Sales From 2014 to 2021

Source: Adobe Analytics

This a huge amount of online shopping, with some days during this season (such as Cyber Monday) hitting records in their own right.

3. 618 Shopping Festival ($86.75 billion)

➡️ When: June 1-18

618 is a shopping festival in China that starts in June and ends on the 18th. It was originally started by the company JD.com, which celebrates its company anniversary on June 18.

Over the years, other e-commerce giants such as Alibaba, Tmall, Pinduoduo, and Secoo joined in the festivities.

This year, Reuters estimates that platforms Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo together achieved $86.75 billion worth of 618 sales.

4. Big Billion Days & Amazon Great Indian Festival ($11.8 billion)

➡️ When: End of September-Mid October

Big Billion Days were originally started by the Indian brand Flipkart as a pre-Diwali shopping holiday.

From here, their e-commerce rival Amazon decided to create their own shopping hype with the Amazon Great Indian Festival. Both of these shopping holidays last for weeks from the end of September to mid-October season.

Though exact numbers are hard to come by (as these eCommerce platforms don’t disclose profits), the firm RedSeer predicted $11.8 billion worth of sales during this year’s Big Billion Days and Amazon Great Indian

Festival Flipkart alone saw $5.5 billion in sales within the first eight days of the festival.

5. Mother’s Day (approx. $11.4 billion)

➡️ When: Late April-Early May

Mother’s Day in the U.S. is also a huge source of online sales. According to the National Retail Federation, spending is expected to reach $31.7 billion this year, with 36% of shoppers making purchases online.

Historical Mother’s Day Spending Plans (From 2018 to 2022)

Given these numbers, we can approximate online sales for the Mother’s Day season as $11.4 billion, though of course, this is just an estimate.

6. Valentine’s Day (approx. $9.7 billion)

➡️ When: Early-Mid February

What’s more, the Valentine’s Day season in the U.S. is a surprising online shopping spree as well.

The National Retail Federation reported $23.9 billion spent on V-day gifts, with 41% of shoppers saying they would buy them online.

Valentin’s Day Spending Plans (From 2007 to 2022)

With these numbers, we can estimate $9.7 billion in online sales for the Valentine’s Day season.

7. Father’s Day (approx. $8 billion)

➡️ When: Early-Mid June

While Father’s Day doesn’t get as big of a spend as Mother’s Day in the U.S., it still makes the list.

The National Retail Federation reported $20 billion spending this Father’s Day, with 40% of shoppers planning to get gifts online.

Historical Father’s Day Spending Plans (From 2018 to 2022)

That gives us an estimated $8 billion in online shopping for Father’s Day.

8. Halloween (approx. $3.2 billion)

➡️ When: Mid-Late October

Halloween is another top online shopping season in the U.S. In 2021, shoppers spent $10.6 billion on Halloween purchases, with 31% reporting that they shopped online.

Historical Halloween Celebration and Spending Plans (From 2017 to 2022)

Source: NRF

That gives us an approximate number of $3.2 billion in online shopping for Halloween.

9. El Buen Fin ($1.58 billion)

➡️ When: Late November

Finally, “El Buen Fin” shopping holiday in Mexico mirrors the Black Friday madness with a late November online shopping spree.

According to Statista, online sales during “El Buen Fin” in 2021 reached $1.58 billion.

📅 Biggest Online Sales – Single Days

Of course, it’s even more impressive when online shopping sprees happen within just 24 hours. Here are the top-grossing single day shopping holidays worldwide.

1. Singles’ Day ($85.4 billion)

➡️ When: November 11

By far the largest online shopping day is Singles’ Day on 11/11. According to Statista, Singles’ Day reached an astounding $85.4 billion of online sales in 2021.

2. Amazon Prime Day ($12.09 billion)

➡️ When: July

Amazon Prime Day occurs for one day in July, offering huge sales for fans of the Amazon platform.

While Amazon doesn’t disclose sales, Digital Commerce 360 estimates that this tech giant made $12.09 billion in sales in 2021.

Amazon Prime Day Sales From 2015 to 2022

3. Cyber Monday ($10.7 billion)

➡️ When: First Monday after Thanksgiving

Cyber Monday has been growing big-time in the U.S. and beyond. According to Adobe Analytics, Cyber Monday saw a record $10.69 billion in online sales in 2021 for the U.S.

2021 Ecommerce Sales by Day (in $Billions)

Source: Digital Commerce 360

That's a $4.1 billion increase from 2017 when Cyber Monday hit a record ($6.59 billion- 16.8% up from 2016) as the largest online sales day in U.S. history and mobile sales reached $2 billion for the first time as well. About 47% of people visited websites from their mobile devices, and 33% of sales came from mobile shopping.

4. Black Friday ($8.9 billion)

➡️ When: Friday after Thanksgiving

Black Friday still performs well for online shopping as well. In 2021, Black Friday reached $8.9 billion in online sales in the U.S., compared to $5.03 billion in 2017.

5. Thanksgiving Day ($5.1 billion)

➡️ When: Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is also widely popular for online shopping in the U.S., reporting $5.1 billion in online sales in 2021, compared to $2.87 billion in 2017.

Estimated Thanksgiving Weekend Ecommerce Revenue in the U.S.

(in $ Billions)

Source: Statista

6. Thanksgiving Sunday ($4.6 billion)

➡️ When: First Sunday after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Sunday had a great showing as well during this holiday weekend in the U.S., hitting $4.6 billion of online sales.

7. Small Business Saturday ($4.4 billion)

➡️ When: First Saturday after Thanksgiving

Finally, Small Business Saturday (the first Saturday after Thanksgiving) has been expanding in recent years, reaching $4.4 billion of online sales in the U.S.

📈 Leverage eCommerce Website Tools & Tips

Will these online shopping holiday seasons and days continue to grow in 2022? We’ll have to wait and see!

In the meantime, you can utilize this ultimate list to prepare your e-commerce website and market to online shoppers.

Don’t forget to leverage the best website tools on InternetTools and get more e-commerce on these special days, too!