From Beauty Giants To Luxury Labels: Cyber Monday Week Turns Into Bargain Blitz As Retailers Chase Shoppers’ Last Dollars Amid Tariff Pressure

• Early Cyber Monday reads, according to Salesforce, showed that U.S. online sales hit $3.4 billion, an increase of 2.6% from 2024,  while online orders declined by 1%. 
• For the final data set to be released on Tuesday, Salesforce expects U.S. online sales to grow 4% to $13.3 billion.
• Telsey’s data showed that Tapestry’s Kate Spade offered a 50% Black Friday sale, but increased its extra discount to 50% from 40% last week for the same style bags.  

As retailers entered Cyber Monday week, promotions and discounts on their websites increased to lure bargain-hunting American shoppers to their product offerings and cash in before a turbulent year filled with tariffs and consumer pullback comes to an end.

According to Telsey Advisory Group’s weekly data from several retailer websites, including those in cosmetics and apparel, companies made efforts to dangle deeper deals, offer the best products, and ensure marketing strategies that attract customers.

Under the Cosmetics Category, Bath & Body Works, which is in the midst of a company turnaround, is currently offering a “Create Your $19.95 Bundle,” compared to last week, when minor holiday deals were beginning.

Department Store Chains Go All Out

Dillard’s website showed deals of 33% to 40%, but the week before Cyber Week, the company did not have any such deals. The company noted that there were thousands of markdowns on several brands, including Ralph Lauren and Steve Madden, under the women’s apparel category.

Kohl’s, which offered discounts of more than 30%, 40% and 50% last week, is only offering 50% off deals this week, marking its efforts to dangle the sweetest deals during the Black Friday weekend.

Beauty Firms Cash In On Cyber Week Too

Telsey data showed that Sephora offered up to 50% off, with 30% off on major brands such as Dyson and 50% off on perfumes from Estée Lauder and others. The heavy deals compared to last week, when Sephora’s website only featured limited-edition gift sets.

On Ulta Beauty’s website, the company began offering 50% off its products, in addition to last week’s everyday deals and personalized deal offerings.

Luxury Companies Step Up

Tapestry’s Kate Spade offered a 50% Black Friday sale, but increased its extra discount on products to 50% from 40% last week for the same style bags.  While Capri’s Michael Kors did not have a discount offering showcased on their website last week, this weekend the handbag maker offered up to 25% sitewide.

Cyber Monday Sales

Early Cyber Monday reads, according to Salesforce, showed that global online sales as of 12 p.m. ET reached $17.3 billion, up 5.3% year over year, while online orders were flat.

Salesforce said U.S. online sales hit $3.4 billion, an increase of 2.6% from 2024, and online orders declined by 1%. For the final data set to be released on Tuesday, Salesforce expects U.S. online sales to grow 4% to $13.3 billion. The company also forecast global online sales to grow 6% year over year to $52.7 billion by the end of Monday.

On the other hand, Adobe Analytics said that for Monday, online sales rose 4.5% from $9.1 billion last year as of 6:30 p.m. ET. The firm expects Cyber Monday to garner between $13.9 billion and $14.2 billion in online sales.

For the period between November and December, the National Retail Federation forecasts holiday spending between $1.01 trillion and $1.02 trillion. Last year, holiday sales rose 4.3% to $976.1 billion compared to 2023. 

Top-Performing Categories

According to Salesforce, the top-performing global shopping categories by sales growth were furniture, which saw a 17% increase, followed by health & beauty, which saw a 13% year-over-year increase.

The top-performing U.S. shopping categories were food & beverage, which saw a 15% increase compared to last year, and general footwear & handbags, which followed suit with a 7% increase in sales growth from 2024.

Shoppers Wait For Cyber Monday

“The momentum heading into Cyber Monday is strong. Global shoppers propelled Cyber Weekend sales up 7% year-over-year, demonstrating healthy consumer appetite,” Caila Schwartz, Director of Consumer Insights at Salesforce, said.

Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData, said in a LinkedIn post that Cyber Monday forecasts indicate that it will retain its standing as the biggest single online shopping day of the year. 

Telsey Advisory Group’s Dana Telsey said that tariff-driven price increases are impacting spending, particularly among lower-income consumers. “The trade-down impact from higher prices is evident, with many discounters seeing their greatest growth from higher-income consumers,” she said.

Dana Telsey noted that the step-up in promotional rates and breadth helped to offset some of the tariff-related price increases.

What Is Retail Thinking?

Retail sentiment on Bath and Body Works remained in the ‘neutral’ territory, while on Ulta Beauty was unchanged in the ‘bullish’ territory, according to data from Stocktwits.

Sentiment on Tapestry improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a day ago, while on Capri it jumped to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’.

Shares of Bath and Body Works have declined 51% this year, Ulta stock has gained over 25%, Tapestry shares have jumped nearly 72% and Capri has risen 20% year-to-date

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Also See: Costco Refuses To Eat Trump's Tariffs With A Legal Strike — Will Walmart And Others Follow Suit?

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