Cyber Monday Sales Could Set A Record $900 Million
Consumers already worried about their jobs shifted online shopping sprees yesterday from midday to early morning and evening hours for fear of getting caught surfing for digital picture frames or iPods during business hours.
A vast 91.5% of shoppers planned to shop from home versus just 13.5% who planned to shop from work, according to Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation.
The shift may have paid off for retailers as consumers relaxed and shopped from their kitchen tables with sales expected to exceed $900 million, up from $846 million last year, which would make it the biggest day for online retail sales ever, according to Comscore. Black Friday online sales jumped 11% to $595 million.
“With more people shopping on Cyber Monday this year and an increasing number of retailers offering promotions, this was the largest – and most important – Cyber Monday yet,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, in a release. “Since retailers began highlighting Cyber Monday promotions five years ago, Americans’ spending patterns have changed. More families have high-speed Internet access at home and don’t need to rely on their work computers to make holiday purchases, which makes the early morning and evening hours crucial for retail sales.”
When broken out by time frame, 41.5% of people planned to shop online early in the morning, the rest said they would shop in the early or late evening hours, Shop.org said.
In all, 96.5 million Americans were expected to shop on Cyber Monday, up from 85 million in 2008.
Retailers were ready: 87.1% offered a special promotion, up from 83.7 percent last year and 72.2% in 2007, according to Shop.org.
“While many online retailers are breathing a sigh of relief after a successful Cyber Monday, they will quickly shift their focus to finding ways to bring shoppers online for the rest of the holiday season,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, in a release. “Many Web sites will experience another huge surge in traffic the week of Dec. 14, when shipping offers begin to expire, so companies are taking lessons-learned from Cyber Monday and planning to implement minor changes over the next few weeks.”
The $595 send online on Black Friday marked the second heaviest online spending day this year, behind Thanksgiving day, which brought in $318 million, Comscore said.
“Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world,” said comScore Chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said in a release.
