What Is Green Monday? Dates, Deals, and How to Save More in December

Green Monday is the second Monday of December and one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. Learn when it falls, what deals to expect, and the shipping deadlines that make it matter for holiday shoppers.

Picture this: it’s the second week of December, you’ve gotten through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, and you’re still not done with your gift list. Then you notice retailers going full-blast again with deals that look a lot like Cyber Monday reruns. That’s Green Monday, and it’s worth paying attention to.

Green Monday is one of the biggest online shopping days of the entire year. It falls on the second Monday of December and marks the last point when most shoppers can order standard-shipping gifts and still get them before Christmas. According to comScore, Green Monday has historically ranked as the third-largest online shopping day of the holiday season.

When Is Green Monday?

Green Monday is always the second Monday of December. Here are the upcoming dates:

The date shifts because it’s pegged to the calendar, not a fixed number. It’s always the Monday that falls at least 10 days before Christmas Day. That 10-day buffer is the whole point.

What Is Green Monday and Where Did It Come From?

The term was coined in 2007 by Shopping.com, an eBay company, after internal data showed the second Monday of December was consistently one of their biggest sales days. eBay researchers noticed a pattern: shoppers who hadn’t finished holiday buying would pile on in mid-December, realizing they were running out of time to get standard shipping delivered.

The word “Green” refers to the color of U.S. currency. It describes how profitable this day has become for retailers. Not green as in eco-friendly. Just green as in money.

Over the following years, the numbers grew fast. According to comScore, Green Monday spending went from $854 million in 2009 to $1.133 billion in 2011, then $1.27 billion in 2012, a 13% jump year-over-year. By 2016, Statista tracked Green Monday at $1.62 billion in U.S. online retail, with spending up 15% from the prior year.

More recently, Green Monday has become harder to track as a standalone day because retailers now stretch their December deals across the entire month. According to Adobe Analytics, 15 separate days during the 2024 holiday season each exceeded $4 billion in online sales. Green Monday is almost certainly one of them.

So what does this mean for shoppers? It means December isn’t a dead zone after Cyber Monday. Not even close.

Green Monday vs. Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

Green Monday fills a different role than the others. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Black Friday kicks off the season with deep cuts on big-ticket items. Cyber Monday became the tech-focused answer to Black Friday’s in-store crowds. Green Monday is the cleanup act. Shoppers who missed the earlier windows, or who were waiting on gift decisions, pile into December’s second week looking for deals that ship fast enough to arrive by the 25th.

From what we’ve tracked across past holiday seasons, the biggest clearances in the apparel and toy categories tend to hit around Green Monday, not Cyber Monday.

What Deals Can You Expect on Green Monday?

Green Monday deals tend to cluster in the same categories shoppers actually want for gifts. According to Adobe Analytics, during the broader 2024 holiday season, discount depths reached:

• Electronics: 28-30% off (laptops, streaming devices, smartwatches)
• Toys: 26-28% off (gaming consoles, LEGO sets, educational toys)
• Apparel: 23-25% off (coats, shoes, accessories)

Home goods and beauty products also see significant markdowns, typically in the 20-25% range. Historically, the retailers most likely to run dedicated Green Monday promotions include Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl’s. Smaller retailers jump in too because the urgency works in their favor just as much.

What types of promotions run? The main formats are:

• Percentage-off sitewide or category codes (most common)
• Flash sales lasting 4-8 hours on specific product categories
• Free shipping with no minimum as the shipping deadline approaches
• Bundle deals pairing popular items at a lower combined price
• Loyalty point multipliers for store credit card holders

A common mistake is ignoring the free shipping offer because it seems smaller than a percentage discount. But free shipping on a $60 order often beats a 10% code on an order where you’d qualify anyway. Do the math before you commit.

Shipping Deadlines: The Real Reason Green Monday Matters

The entire point of Green Monday is the shipping calendar. Order too late and your gifts don’t arrive by Christmas. The standard cutoffs for major carriers in 2024 were:

These dates shift slightly each year based on how the calendar falls. The 2025 cutoffs will be similar. Always confirm the retailer’s specific guarantee rather than relying on the carrier’s published dates, because some retailers cut off order processing earlier than the carrier cutoffs.

The advice that actually works: finish your standard-shipping orders by December 11-14. That gives a buffer for processing delays, weekend handoffs, and any carrier backup that builds in the final pre-Christmas stretch. Based on past holiday deal patterns we’ve tracked, shopping on Green Monday and checking out quickly is your best shot at standard shipping without paying rush rates.

Amazon, Target, and Walmart typically extend delivery guarantees closer to Christmas for Prime members and same-day/next-day eligible items. But even then, don’t count on December 22 delivery without paying for expedited service.

How to Actually Save on Green Monday

The deals are real. The question is whether you’re prepared to grab them efficiently. Here’s what works:

1. Build your list before December arrives

Generic advice? Sure. But the shoppers who score the best Green Monday deals are the ones who’ve already decided what they want. They hit the retailer pages the moment the deals drop instead of browsing around trying to figure out what to buy. Decision fatigue costs you time, and flash sales don’t wait.

2. Subscribe to retailer emails in late November

Most stores send exclusive or early-access Green Monday codes to email subscribers. These codes often run one to two percentage points higher than the publicly available deals. Takes 30 seconds to sign up, and you can unsubscribe in January.

3. Compare prices across stores before you commit

Green Monday creates artificial urgency, and retailers count on that. Take two minutes to check the same product at two or three stores before clicking Buy. Prices on popular electronics can vary by 15-20% between major retailers on the same day. If you’d rather skip the manual search, tools like our Chrome extension test available codes automatically at checkout.

4. Check if the “deal” is actually new

Some retailers recycle their Cyber Monday promotions under the Green Monday banner without any change. The deal calculator test: compare the final price today against what it was on December 2. If it’s identical, the urgency messaging is marketing, not a real limited-time offer. Historical pricing data is easy to check with browser extensions that track price history.

5. Know which stores will stack discounts

A few retailers let you layer a store coupon code on top of Green Monday sale prices. Kohl’s is the most reliable for this, especially for Kohl’s Charge cardholders who get an extra percentage on top. Target’s Circle program sometimes adds cashback on top of sale pricing as well.

6. Don’t overlook BOPIS for December 20+ shopping

Once you’re past the December 18-19 standard shipping cutoffs, “Buy Online, Pick Up In Store” (BOPIS) becomes your friend. During the 2024 holiday season, according to Adobe Analytics, BOPIS accounted for 25% of all online orders during peak December windows. It’s how late shoppers avoid expedited shipping fees while still shopping at retail prices.

Is Green Monday Getting Bigger?

The short answer: it’s complicated.

Green Monday spending grew consistently from 2009 through 2016. Recent years are harder to measure because retailers have deliberately spread deals across the full December calendar. What used to be a single-day spike has become a rolling “Cyber December” where deals run from December 1 through the 20th.

According to Adobe Analytics, the 2025 holiday season saw U.S. consumers spend $257.8 billion online between November 1 and December 31, up 6.8% year-over-year. The full-month context means individual days like Green Monday matter less as a date and more as a signal: the second week of December is when the final holiday buying surge kicks in.

Buy Now, Pay Later usage has also reshaped when people shop. During the 2024 holiday season, BNPL drove $18.2 billion in spending per Adobe Analytics data, with a 9.6% increase year-over-year. Shoppers spreading payments are less deterred by prices, which means Green Monday deals don’t need to be as deep to drive conversions.

The “green” branding has also picked up an unintended second meaning. Some retailers now use Green Monday to promote eco-friendly products and sustainable brands, positioning it as the conscious shopper’s alternative to the Cyber Monday frenzy. Small businesses and direct-to-consumer brands often run their strongest December deals on Green Monday specifically because they can’t compete with Amazon’s year-round promotions but can match them for a single week.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Green Monday?

Green Monday is an annual online shopping event that falls on the second Monday of December. It was coined in 2007 by Shopping.com, an eBay company, and marks one of the year’s biggest online retail days. The name refers to the color of U.S. currency and the profitable nature of the day for retailers.

When is Green Monday 2025?

Green Monday 2025 falls on December 8. In 2026 it will be December 14. The date is always the second Monday of December, which is also the last Monday with at least 10 shipping days before Christmas.

Is Green Monday as good as Cyber Monday for deals?

For some categories, yes. Electronics discounts on Cyber Monday tend to run deeper because manufacturers plan specifically for it. But apparel, toys, and home goods deals on Green Monday often match or exceed Cyber Monday because retailers are clearing end-of-season inventory. It’s worth checking both.

What day is the last day to order online for Christmas delivery?

With standard shipping from most major retailers, the safe window closes around December 11-14. After that, you’re looking at expedited shipping fees or in-store pickup to guarantee arrival by December 25.

Do all retailers participate in Green Monday?

Most major U.S. online retailers run some form of promotion around Green Monday, even if they don’t use that exact name. Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl’s are consistent participants. Many smaller retailers join in because the timing works for their inventory clearance cycle.

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