Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving Day in the United States, created by companies to persuade people to shop online. The term emerged during the 2005 holiday season within the e-commerce community, coined from research showing that 77 percent of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. The premise was that shoppers returned to their offices after the Black Friday weekend and bought online what they had not found in stores - making the day the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Our 2026 fashion sales guide is live, with dates, expectations, and online shopping tips.
Cyber Monday 2026 GuideCyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, created by companies to persuade people to shop online.
You don’t have to be a fashion industry insider to recognize the importance of Black Friday, which we all know is regarded as one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the traditional holiday shopping season. As we all know, many retailers open their doors quite early (typically 5 a.m. or earlier) and offer special deals to attract consumers. The media, which has been using this term for several decades, refers to Black Friday as the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the “red” to being in the “black,” which means they begin to turn a profit.
During the 2005 holiday season the term “Cyber Monday” emerged onto the retail scene. The term was used specifically within the e-commerce community. The “Cyber Monday” term was first coined based on research showing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.
Since then the term has gone mainstream and now appears in fashion sources such as Apparel Search and general news venues such as local newspapers and news channels.
According to Wikipedia, Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately following Black Friday. It marks the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season, which falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is important to note that Black Friday is associated with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, but “Cyber Monday” symbolizes a busy day for online retailers. The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online that they were not able to make in stores.
By Regina Cooper for Apparel Search
For apparel, Cyber Monday lands at the most commercial moment of the fashion year. Retailers have full autumn/winter stock, gift buying is at its peak, and the day gives online stores their answer to the Black Friday store rush: site-wide percentage discounts, free-shipping thresholds, extended returns and online-only styles. Because the shoppers are at desks and on phones rather than in fitting rooms, fashion e-commerce leans on the tools this site tracks in its shopping sections - coupon pages, sale guides and store directories - and the strongest offers are usually time-boxed to the single day, sometimes stretching into a Cyber Week.
The day also closes a longer sales sequence. Holiday selling builds through November, peaks across the Black Friday weekend, spikes online on Cyber Monday, and keeps a second wind at Super Saturday - the last Saturday before Christmas, when procrastinators shop in stores. Knowing the sequence helps shoppers judge any single day's deals: a Cyber Monday discount is best measured against the same retailer's Black Friday and Super Saturday offers rather than taken at face value.
The Monday immediately following Black Friday, promoted as the biggest day of the online holiday shopping season. It marks the ceremonial kick-off of holiday e-commerce, which runs between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
During the 2005 holiday season. It was coined in the e-commerce community from research showing 77 percent of online retailers saw a significant sales increase on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004, and it has since gone mainstream in fashion coverage and general news alike.
Black Friday belongs to traditional brick-and-mortar stores - early openings, in-store doorbusters, and the start of the period when retailers move from the red into the black. Cyber Monday symbolizes the busy day for online retailers: the same holiday demand, expressed through websites instead of store doors. The fashion sales guides linked from this page track both days each year.