Cyber Monday is the Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving long weekend, and is named as such because of shoppers' tendencies to head to their computers for some post-turkey online shopping. This year was no different, with a total of 72 million shoppers expected to have made online purchases that day (according to a study conducted on behalf of Shop.org, the Website that named the day "Cyber Monday"). This is up from 60.7 million in 2006, and 59 million in 2005. What I infer from these figures is one of two things: more people are shopping online, or more people are shopping period. Either way, the point is that more people are shopping.Although "official" figures for Cyber Monday haven't yet been released, the National Retail Federation (NRF) says that CyberMonday.com, a Website that compiles promotions and deals from more than 550 online retailers, tracked three times more traffic by 1 p.m. in the afternoon on that day than it had in the previous year. That equated to more than one-million visitors in just the first 13 hours of the day!
Cyber Monday is such a hit in the U.S. that the NRF holds a Shop@Lunch event in Washington, DC, where workers can surf for the best deals while munching on some mid-day grub. This is probably a good idea, since the Shop.org survey (which was conducted by BIGresearch) discovered that 54.5% of workers with Internet access planned to shop from work. So hey, why not encourage them to do so on their lunch hour rather than using up valuable company time to find the latest Tickle Me Elmo for their nieces and nephews? Surprisingly, men were dubbed more likely to shop while at work than women (57.3% vs. 51.7%). Not surprisingly, young adults, aged 18-24, were the most likely to do so at 72.9%. This year, more than 200 people attended the Shop@Lunch event in Washington.
Cyber Monday is such a hit in the U.S. that the NRF holds a Shop@Lunch event in Washington, DC, where workers can surf for the best deals while munching on some mid-day grub. This is probably a good idea, since the Shop.org survey (which was conducted by BIGresearch) discovered that 54.5% of workers with Internet access planned to shop from work. So hey, why not encourage them to do so on their lunch hour rather than using up valuable company time to find the latest Tickle Me Elmo for their nieces and nephews? Surprisingly, men were dubbed more likely to shop while at work than women (57.3% vs. 51.7%). Not surprisingly, young adults, aged 18-24, were the most likely to do so at 72.9%. This year, more than 200 people attended the Shop@Lunch event in Washington.
In addition to offering neat promotions and deals, 24.7% of online sites offered free shipping for orders placed on Cyber Monday. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, 72.2% of online retailers planned some sort of promotion for the day, up from just 42.7% in 2005.
When shopping becomes an organized event at work, you know that the industry is on to something big.
[Photo: A few office workers attempt to snag the best online deals while attending the Shop@Lunch event that took place in Washington, DC on Cyber Monday: November 26.]
When shopping becomes an organized event at work, you know that the industry is on to something big.
[Photo: A few office workers attempt to snag the best online deals while attending the Shop@Lunch event that took place in Washington, DC on Cyber Monday: November 26.]
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