Cyber Monday

[Kay]

This coming Monday (Dec 1) is Cyber Monday (http://www.pcworld.com/article/154458/a_cyber_monday_tech_shopping_primer.html) which is a relatively new thing in the States (introduced in 2005) where online retailers give lots of great deals and discounts or perks like free shipping on orders placed the first Monday after Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving, which is always a Thursday is usually when the high street retailers traditionally start their biggest holiday sales.

Anyone thinking of buying online something from the States, Monday's a great day to do it.

[Fergal]

...Monday (Dec 1) is Cyber Monday (http://www.pcworld.com/article/154458/a_cyber_monday_tech_shopping_primer.html)...

Kay your post is the first time I hear anything about Cyber Monday. Is Cyber Monday a popular event, is it well publicised?

[Kay]

Kay your post is the first time I hear anything about Cyber Monday. Is Cyber Monday a popular event, is it well publicised?

It's getting to be here definitely, yes. It's only been around three years and is the online retailer's way of getting a slice of the Sale pie. Over here the day after Thanksgiving is when Christmas shopping starts in earnest and it's insane, like Christmas Eve in the UK only worse. I kid you not. I wouldn't venture out to the malls that Friday if you paid me.

PC World reported in the article that
Last year, consumers spent $733 million on Cyber Monday, and it's expected to be even bigger this year. According to a survey by online shopping site Shopzilla for the National Retail Federation's Shop.org, nearly 84 percent of online retailers plan to have a Cyber Monday promotion on December 1. That's up from just 72 percent last year and zero percent in 2005, says Shop.org executive director Scott Silverman.

That's a fair chunk of change, especially when you consider how short a time since its inception. Apparently the reason they chose that day is that it's the first day people are back at work after the long Thanksgiving weekend and they start Christmas shopping online from their office desk. (Must resist saying cyberloafing...:D )

There's an entire website devoted to it: http://www.cybermonday.com/. Many of the companies run the offers longer than the day itself. It does get a lot of press coverage, more this year than I've seen before and not just in the odd gadget mag either.


Statistics from yesterday's shopping bonanza are not expected until today at the earliest. But a National Retail Federation survey showed that about 85 million Americans planned to fill a checkout basket yesterday, an 18 percent increase over last year. Spokeswoman Ellen Davis said a site it maintains with Cyber Monday deals had registered 4.3 million visitors by mid-morning, nearly the same number that visited during the entire day last year.


Cyber Monday Promotions Try to Entice Thrifty Shoppers - Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/01/AR2008120102826.html?hpid=topnews)


CNN (http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200812011533DOWJONESDJONLINE000565_FORTUNE5.htm) already had a story. Marketwatch (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Cyber-Monday-Internet-Traffic-Spikes/story.aspx?guid={836897BA-2FF6-4125-8A7B-21084C4A2207}) reported on an internet company that saw a 30% spike in business internet traffic usage on Monday compared to the two Mondays prior to it, which they attributed to it being Cyber Monday.

So yes, it does get quite a bit of publicity when you look at how many news items (http://news.google.com/news?q=cyber%20monday) make mention of it. I think Cyber Monday will be one of those things that in a few years, people will forget they'd never heard of it and it'll be a common phrase. ( Like " I'll Google it" ...whatever did we say before they emerged. :) )

[Fergal]

Kay, thanks for the detailed explanation and the helpful links!


...84 percent of online retailers plan to have a Cyber Monday...

That is a truly large percentage. Sounds like Cyber Monday is growing in popularity and importance.

I've created a new thread for this Cyber Monday topic, apologies for taking the recession thread off topic. :(

[Kay]

Was probably my fault anyway we went offtopic, Fergal, sorry. :) And you're welcome. :)

Yep, I think it's going to just keep on growing, even if only because the number of people getting online each year keeps swelling the internet user base in general. Probably an area it would be worth trying to find some kind of door into, but what I don't know.

[Nazreen]

I've just visited Cybermonday.com website and I do think that Cybermonday is a great way to find bargains during the Christmas holidays. I would have thought that the special promotions and offers would have ended by now but they haven't. I think that this would continue until the end of the year or probably until first week of January.

Wouldn't it be better if they invented and used the term "CyberChristmas", instead? :)

[Kay]

I've just visited Cybermonday.com website and I do think that Cybermonday is a great way to find bargains during the Christmas holidays. I would have thought that the special promotions and offers would have ended by now but they haven't. I think that this would continue until the end of the year or probably until first week of January.

Wouldn't it be better if they invented and used the term "CyberChristmas", instead? :)

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it though Nazreen. ;) In fairness I believe in previous years the longest the deals have lasted is from the Monday to the following Sunday. I guess all the retailers there will be doing what the bricks and mortar ones are this year even more than usual - trying to capitalize on each and every visitor they get for as long a period as they can. Good luck to them and I'm glad to see it extended since I completely forgot about it until Tuesday morning! :)

However they do it, they're doing something right. Sales numbers are coming out now and reports say "Internet retail spending on the day dubbed Cyber Monday rose 15% to $846 million" (http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2067416/) despite the fact that "e-commerce spending for the holiday season to date was down 2%." That just tells me that more and more are seeking the bargains and paying attention to what's going on in the economy. I'd bet my bottom dollar that by this time next year, we'll see it spring up in other parts of the world.

[Fergal]

15% is a very big increase. It was certainly worth while taking part for the participating companies.

[Webestrian]

Cyber Monday.Heard this term for the first time.