Cyber Monday vs. Black Friday: Which shopping holiday has the best deals?

The supreme shopping weekend is almost here.

A record 183.4 million people are planning to shop in stores and online between Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday in 2024, up from the previous record of 182 million in 2023, according to an annual National Retail Federation survey.

Black Friday still reigns supreme, the survey found, with 131.7 million people (72%), reporting plans to do shopping that day. That’s followed by Cyber Monday, when 39% of respondents, or 72.3 million people, plan to shop.  

The top reason shoppers are still so dedicated to cashing in on the official shopping holidays is deals that are “too good to pass up,” said 57% of people, followed by a love for tradition, according to 28% of respondents.

With so many millions planning to do the bulk of their shopping over about four days, it begs the question: Is one day better than the other to shop sales? Which shopping holiday comes out on top in the matchup of Black Friday versus Cyber Monday? Here’s what to know.

By 1961, the name stuck in Philly but didn’t go nationwide until the late 1980s, when retailers seized the opportunity to re-frame the day as something more positive, concocting the analogy of stores going from being “in the red” (experiencing financial deficit) until the explosion of sales on the day after Thanksgiving, bringing them back into “the black” (being profitable).

Cyber Monday takes place the first Monday after Thanksgiving. This year, it will fall on Monday, Dec. 2.

It originated as something of a response or complement to Black Friday, eventually becoming equally lucrative for retailers. The official term was coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005, when the organization noticed an influx in online shopping the Monday after Thanksgiving as people returned to work and used their − at the time − faster internet connections in the office versus at home to start on their holiday lists.

Like with Black Friday, retailers cashed in on this by making it a full-fledged sales event, this time focusing on online shopping and sales.