Online sales in the US reached a record high on Cyber Monday with Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) expected to have taken the biggest chunk of the total, according to market data.
Sales reached US$6.59bn, up 16.8% from the previous Cyber Monday, a record from US$5.65bn last year, according to Adobe Analytics. This compared to Black Friday online sales of US$5.03bn.
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Amazon is estimated to have a 42% share of all online sales, according to market research firm Slice Intelligence.
“The problem for everybody else is that Amazon has basically become a verb. It’s the reflex reaction to start on Amazon and then you go to other places only if you can’t find what you want there,” said Bob Goodwin, consumer electronics practice lead at InfoScout, a consumer-behaviour research company.
Amazon growth has come on the back of an increasing trend towards online shopping as consumers avoid the hassle of visiting busy stores.
Improving broadband speeds, smartphones and tablets have contributed to growth in online sales.
Adobe said mobile users now represent about 47.4% of all visits to shopping websites, with 39.9% on a smart phone and 7.6% on tablet.