Cyber Monday Compensating for Black Friday

Many retailers were disappointed with Black Friday. While they placed much hope on day-after-Thanksgiving sales, there was only a marginal increase compared to last year, and the numbers fell short of many store's projections.

However, a buying surge on Cyber Monday-a term coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 for the Monday after Thanksgiving-boosted retailers to a 13.7% increase over last year. By mid-day on Monday, over 500 vendors reported a 38% increase from last year on the average online order. Last year, the average per purchase was $130.24 and this year it grew to $180.03.

Attracted by deep discounts and temporary offers, U.S. shoppers spent $887 million on Monday, approximately the same amount they spent on December 9, 2008, which set an all-time record for online sales. This is reassuring to vendors, as the peak in online shopping will probably happen closer to shipping deadline, around mid-December.

Online spending on Black Friday also increased 11% from last year. Many believe this is due to stores treating online shopping the same as in-store shopping, and offering discounts online as well.

According to a shop.org survey, 96.5 million Americans planned to shop on Cyber Monday this year, a large increase from the 85 million in 2008. And retailers were listening-according to another shop.org survey, 87.1% of retailers offered a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 83.7% last year and 72.2% in 2007.

Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, said, “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."