The holiday season is a time of giving, and during this time, stores give their customers discounts so that they can save money on their gifts. Cyber Monday is one of those days, and it includes some of the best sales of the year. This day is a discounted online shopping event on the Monday that follows Thanksgiving in the United States.

On Nov. 28, 2005, Ellen Davis, the Senior Vice President of the National Retail Federation, coined the term “Cyber Monday” to interest people in online shopping. The term “Cyber Monday” was thought of because the Monday after Thanksgiving was one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

After window shopping in stores on Thanksgiving weekend because of Black Friday sales, people began shopping online on that Monday and bought the items that they had their eye on all weekend long. Many customers were already shopping through the Black Friday weekend and into the next week, and many online retailers saw a jump in sales when Cyber Monday was created. By providing customers with unbeatable discounted online prices, Cyber Monday has served to increase online shopping sales throughout the holiday season.

In 2016, Cyber Monday was the biggest online sales day in history. Shoppers spent $3.45 billion on Cyber Monday on various items, especially electronics. Samsung 4K TVs, PlayStation 4s, and Amazon Fire tablets were popular electronic items this year. Cyber Monday sales jumped 12.1 percent since last year and went over the expectation of $3.36 billion sales this year, according to Adobe Digital Insights. Customers also shopped for many toys online this year, such as Barbie dolls, Nerf dart guns, and Lego’s building blocks.

Adobe Digital Insight’s report on Cyber Monday is based on combined data from visiting retail websites 23 billion times. The company calculates 80 percent of all online purchases from the top 100 retailers in America. They use an Adobe Sensei software to calculate the sales made and dollars spent per hour.

The convenience of Cyber Monday is a reason why it is such a successful event. Our society is technology-driven, and customers shop online during the holiday season frequently. The items online have greater discounts than in stores, there is free shipping, customers do not need to wait in lines, and more products are available. Cyber Monday was a huge success this year, and without it, it would be safe to say that holiday gift-giving would not be the same.