US Cyber Monday sales to hit record $9.2 billion

CyberMondaysaleswere on course to bring in a record $9.2billion, according to evening estimates, building on a bumper Black Friday weekend forUSretailers driven by earlier-than-usual promotions and free shipping.

Shoppers have already had nearly a month of offers and deals as retailers look to draw out their vital holiday season, which is six days shorter this year due to a late Thanksgiving.

Adobe Analytics predicted that $72.1billionwas spent online in the month ending December 1, andCyberMondaynow traditionally theUSeconomy's biggest internet shopping day had logged a 16.9 per centjump insalesover the year prior as of 7 pmET.

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Adobe, which measures transactions from 80 of the biggest 100USretailers, said it marked down its prior $9.4billionforecast slightly as more data came in.

Amazon.com Inc and rivals such as Target Corp and Walmart Inc werepoisedto benefit from the event, having beefed up delivery services to fulfill online orders more quickly. In-store pickup of online orders has become smoother, too, said Carol Spieckerman, president at consultancy Spieckerman Retail.

"At the end of the day,CyberMondayis just Black Friday revisited so the momentum, and the deals, really started last week," Spieckerman said.

Adobe also said $3billionof the estimatedsaleswould be from smartphones, a newUSrecord.

Large companies did well in this channel, outpacing small businesses due to investment in mobile apps and other technology, as well as to larger product and deals selections, said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights.

"The big companies are still getting disproportionate growth versus the small ones," he said.

The event was not all smooth sailing for the world's biggest online retailer, Amazon. Protesters, who have described the poor treatment of warehouse workers and rising climate emissions from the company's push for speedier deliveries, marched outside CEO Jeff Bezos' Fifth Avenue penthouse in New York City onMonday. "We're humans, not robots," read one sign.

Amazon spokeswoman Kristen Kish said unions and groupsfunded by competitors were "conjuring misinformation" about Amazon, which had industry-leading pay and benefits. The company aims to be carbon neutral by 2040.

Activists also tried to blockade a shopping mall in Paris, denouncing the spread of Black Friday to European shores. The day's shopping in the United States still paled in comparison to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's "Singles Day" last month, when the Chinese e-commerce giant raked in $38.4billioninsales.

TheUSNational Retail Federation estimates nearly 69 million Americans will scour the web onMondayfor deals on everything from mobile phones to kitchenware, with Adobe estimating the biggest discounts on televisions and computers.

Topsellers included toys from the film "Frozen 2," LOL surprise dolls and Nintendo Co Ltd's Switch games console, Adobe said.

"#CyberMonday2019 The day of the year 85 per centof theUSpopulation pretends to actually be working," tweeted Erika Mayor, a user in Miami.