Cyber Monday!

As I was browsing through retail news over the internet and looking for something to blog about, I stumbled upon an article about Cyber Monday. Now, I think we've all heard about Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day of the year - however, Cyber Monday is a relatively new phenomena (at least I've never heard of it until today). According to an article online, over 80% of online retailers are supposed to offer "Cyber Monday" promotions.
They are counting on Monday to be a bright spot during this challenging shopping season.

I'm not quite sure how successful Cyber Monday is going to be but it does seem like a pretty good idea. For all of the people who don't want to join the craze on Black Friday, they will now have the chance to save some money online and sit in their pajamas in peace and quiet. According to the article, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is expected to be more promotional than ever this year as retailers offer one-day sales and special offers to bring holiday shoppers online. Furthermore, according to the eHoliday Survey, conducted for Shop.org this fall by Shopzilla, 83.7 percent of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 72.2 percent last year. The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (38.8%), email campaigns (32.7%), and one-day sales (24.5%). Additionally, nearly one-fourth of retailers (22.5%) will offer free shipping on all purchases. “As shoppers focus on price this holiday season, online retailers will be extremely competitive to offer the very best deals,” said Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org. “Americans who are looking to put a dent in their holiday shopping will be able to find thousands of bargains on Cyber Monday.”

The article also explained that the term "Cyber Monday" developed from a website (Shop.org) in 2005. This was because many retailers noticed a huge trend of people shopping on the Monday following Thanksgiving. I don't think, however, that Cyber Monday will be nearly as successful as Black Friday. It will probably need a few more years of marketing the "Cyber Monday" until it becomes a gigantic shopping day. Furthermore, a few interesting facts pointed out by this article were that this year, according to a BIGresearch survey conducted for Shop.org, 55.8 percent of workers with Internet access, or 72.8 million people, will shop for holiday gifts from work. The trend of employees with internet access shopping from the office has continued to increase: in 2005, only 44.7 percent said they shopped online from work. According to the BIGresearch survey, 70.0 percent of young adults 18-34 with Internet access will shop at work. Additionally, men are more likely to shop from work than women (60.3% vs. 51.5%).

We'll have to wait and see the results! I'm anxious to see how many people will actually shop online and how big Cyber Monday will become in the future!