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Web Retailers Expect Brisk 'Cyber Monday'
The New York Times has a piece this morning looking at an anticipated brisk day of sales for 'Cyber Monday'. The Monday after Black Friday gained the moniker last year, based on increased online sales from 2004 and 2005. Advertisers, now once again fans of the web, have a lot to smile about as well. Specifically targeted ads have already been purchased for today, in hopes of increasing sales. This year, online retailers are expecting a jump in the range of 20% (as they did last year). From the article: "Patti Freeman Evans, an analyst with JupiterResearch, a technology consulting firm, said online sales this year would reach the $100 billion threshold for the first time. Online sales, she added, would probably constitute 6 percent of total holiday merchandise sales. Some of that online growth comes from new shoppers. According to a recent Jupiter survey, 114 million online users planned to buy something online this holiday season, a 6 percent jump from last year. The National Retail Federation said 47 percent of consumers would make at least one holiday purchase online this year, up from 36 percent three years ago."
Just one problem: It's not true, at least for many online retailers. Contrary to what the recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn't nearly the biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher comScore Networks. It's not even the first big day of the season.
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The National Retail Federation coined this phrase, apparently.
We've discussed this obvious attempt at boosting sales before, and the consensus was that there's no need for a "cyber monday" - the reasons for the Black Friday bricks-and-mortar sales just don't apply to the online world. This is nothing more than a grab for some extra sales before Christmas, and the media are falling for it.
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I was waiting for the same bogus "Cyber Monday" stories we got last year. It's the same myth it was last year. See Business Week. "Contrary to what the recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn't nearly the biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher comScore Networks. It's not even the first big day of the season." This story ran *last year*.
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There was a /. article on this two years ago!0 5/nf20051129_9946_db016.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday
It's a marketing myth. Those "market reports" are press releases. Get your head in the game.
Ask Yahoo answers
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From shop.org:
"Is Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day of the year?
No. Much like the day after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year but is not the biggest. (Last year, according to retailers, the busiest online shopping day was December 12, one of the last days of the holiday season that retailers were offering free standard shipping.) However, many retailers see Cyber Monday as the online equivalent to "Black Friday." It is the kickoff to the online holiday shopping season when retailers offer special promotions to bring customers to the web and introduce them to holiday merchandise.
Was Cyber Monday "made up?"
The term "Cyber Monday" was coined last year by Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation. However, the trend of Cyber Monday was initially recognized a number of years ago, when many retailers saw spikes in sales and traffic as consumers went back to work after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Though Shop.org gave the Monday after Thanksgiving a name, it hardly created the trend."
I guess if you tell people it's a big shopping day, eventually it will be. Fucking mean, though.
Fat Tuesday has some significance as it was the last day you could eat meat (pretty much the main source of fat calories in a European diet) before Lent began (on Ash Wednesday).
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