Online retailers are prepping for a rush of shoppers to hit their sites next Monday, a full three days after brick-and-mortar retailers’ traditional holiday shopping kickoff on Black Friday.
Online retailers will host promotions and price cuts on Nov. 28, the Monday after Thanksgiving, which industry pundits have dubbed Cyber Monday. Last year, 77% of online retailers saw sales zoom on Cyber Monday, according to an industry survey.
About one third of U.S. shoppers—51.7 million in all— browse or buy online this season, per a separate survey of consumers, conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation. Most younger adults (51% of those 18-24, and 49% of those 25-34) will shop online during work hours, with men (42%) more likely than women (32%) to shop from the office. Shoppers may be taking advantage of faster Internet connections at work or are wrapping up holiday shopping they began over the weekend.
Whatever the reason, 43% of online retailers say they’ll meet the traffic boost with special pricing, free shipping and gifts with purchase, according to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study conducted by portal shopping service Shopzilla and online retailer association Shop.org (a division of the NRF). Meanwhile, 36% will host promotions on Thanksgiving Day to pre-empt the brick-and-mortar rush on Friday.
The stakes are high. More than half (57%) of online retailers expect holiday sales to jump 30% over last year, and about 20% anticipate sales to zoom 75% or more. Last year, sales were up the most for sites selling jewelry and luxury goods (above-average boosts for 89% of sites), consumer electronics (86%), gourmet goods (83%) and furniture or home décor (80%).
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