In brief: Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019 are officially in the books and retailers are smiling all the way to the bank. After learning earlier this week that retailers posted a record $7.4 billion in online sales during Black Friday, we now have confirmation that Amazon had an equally as impressive retail run.

The e-commerce giant revealed that it turned in the best-ever Black Friday in the company's history. Furthermore, the company said Cyber Monday was the single biggest shopping day in the company's history based on items ordered worldwide.

Specifically, independent third-party sellers - mostly small and medium-sized businesses - sold more items during Cyber Monday than during any other 24-hour period in Amazon history.

Amazon said that more than 25 million items were ordered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. Millions more Amazon devices were ordered this year compared to the same period in 2018. Among the best-selling products were the Echo Dot and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote. Smart home devices like the iRobot Roomba 675 Robot Vacuum, the Furbo Dog Camera and the Wemo Mini Smart Plug were also popular among shoppers, we're told.

With roughly three weeks left in the holiday buying season, shoppers will be hitting local stores and buying online in a race to check off every item on their gift list. It's the busiest time of the year for retailers, when many finally turn a profit for the year. According to Sensormatic Solutions, these are the 10 busiest days for retail foot traffic at stores:

  • Black Friday, November 29
  • December 21, the last Saturday before Christmas
  • December 26, the day after Christmas
  • December 14, two Saturdays before Christmas
  • November 30, the Saturday after Black Friday
  • December 22, the last Sunday before Christmas
  • December 23, the Monday before Christmas
  • December 28, the Saturday after Christmas
  • December 27, the Friday after Christmas
  • December 7, the first Saturday in December

Masthead credit: Black Friday by Pressmaster. Echo Dot by JeDo_Foto