While Black Friday kicks off one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year, Cyber Monday is giving it a run for its money. The pandemic has given shoppers more reasons to stay home, and the fruits of this isolation are heavily evident in online shopping. Shoppers spent $10.7 billion online during Cyber Monday 2021, and sales during Cyber Week, which happens from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, totaled $33.9 billion. In fact, during the peak hour between 8-9 PM PM/11 PM-12 AM ET, consumers spent $12 million every single minute.

The ever-increasing popularity of subscriptions means this industry is getting a hefty slice of the Cyber Monday pie, such as the opportunity that lies in subscription gifting. To share the impact of Cyber Monday on subscriptions, Recurly analyzed key metrics from over 2,200 subscription businesses during Cyber Monday, which happened on November 28, 2022. Keep reading to learn more about our 2022 Cyber Monday research.

Total transactions volume

This year, subscribers in Recurly spent over $32 million on Cyber Monday, a 29.7% increase in sales from the stores from Cyber Monday 2021. With the growing dominance of online shopping and exclusive online savings, consumers are turning to the internet to make purchases more and more.

Recurly merchants saw the highest number of transactions on Cyber Monday at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET. That’s 8.9% higher than the following highest hour at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET.

New subscriber signups

Recurly merchants saw 295,830 new signups on Cyber Monday, a 38.5% increase from a typical day in November. The Education vertical experienced an 81.9% increase in new signups year over year, which is primarily driven by discounts on longer-term quarterly or annual subscriptions for eLearning courses.

Average transaction size

The average transaction size on Cyber Monday this year was $111.00, up 15.3% from last year. The Consumer Goods and Retail industry saw the biggest jump with a 27% increase in the average transaction size from last year. With more opportunities than other industries to offer one-time purchases and add-ons to subscription plans, businesses in the Consumer Goods and Retail industry can easily double down on these promotions during big shopping days.

Coupons redeemed

Compared to a typical day in November, the number of coupons redeemed on Cyber Monday this year nearly doubled. Just like the last Cyber Monday, the Digital Media and Entertainment industry saw the most coupon redemptions. Many Recurly merchants in this industry offered unbeatable Cyber Monday deals, such as Paramount+, which offered 50% off an annual plan for the first year, and Sling, which offered 50% off the first month plus a free Fire Stick. 

Alternative payment method (APM) usage

During the week of Cyber Monday from November 21 to 28, Recurly merchants experienced 31.1% more transactions made with APMs than in a typical November week, from 1.7 million to 2.2 million transactions. APMs include Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Paypal, Sepa, and Venmo, and merchants continue to adopt APMs at an increasing rate every year.

Compared to Cyber Monday 2021, there were 7.3% more transactions made with APMs this year totaling 278,000 transactions for the day. Similar to last year, the Digital Media and Entertainment industry experiences the highest APM adoption rates with over 82 million transactions and counting so far in 2022. Regardless of industry, however, consumers want multiple options to choose from when paying for a subscription. In fact, McKinsey & Company reported that “more than four in five Americans used some form of digital payment in 2021.” 

Gift card & gift subscription purchases

Gift card purchases saw an increase of 377.9% on Cyber Monday compared to a typical November day. During the seven-day period ending on Cyber Monday, there was a 536.9% increase in gift card purchases compared to a typical week in November. 

Gift subscription purchases experienced an 82.5% increase in purchases during the week of November 21 to 28 compared to a typical week in November. Compared to Cyber Monday 2021, there was a 12.6% increase in gift subscription purchases.

Dominating most direct-to-consumer recurring revenue businesses, these subscription companies leverage gift cards as an acquisition strategy and revenue driver, especially around the holidays. Our guide to gift subscriptions showed that 63% of consumers would consider giving a gift of a subscription service to someone this holiday season and 70% of consumers would be open to receiving a gift subscription this year, especially Gen Z. 

Want to see how Cyber Monday 2022 compares to last year? See our 2021 blog post.