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."

Comments

Price paradox

[Duncan3]

It's really too bad online retailers have had to mark up their goods 5-10% or more to pay for the ads and search engine manipulation needed to get any customers at all to their sites. If you're on the second page of a search result, you're not really in the search result at all.

It's no wonder sale prices at stores (item + tax) have been better then online (item + ad markup + shipping) for a while now. Now online is only good if you want an old item that stores don't stock because newer things are on the shelf.

Google should have a banner day tomorrow, everyone else is pretty much screwed one way or the other merchant and consumer alike.
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Re:Price paradox - Huh??

[bangzilla]

You are so very wrong. Online retailers are typically much less expensive than brick and mortar as they don't have the overhead of well, brick and mortar. Take a wander around http://www.amazon.com/ and you'll find the majority of the items for sale are much less than you would pay in a store. Oh, and if you live in a state (such as CA) where Amazon does not have a physical presence (e.g. shipping facility), you won't pay sales tax.

I'd much rather stay home, avoid the mobs, keep warm, browse on-line for my holiday gifts and have them wrapped and delivered directly to family members and friends and save money at the time.

Re:Just another myth

[jalefkowit]

This is what's wrong with news coverage today. Actual journalists would take a press release from an industry group proclaiming a specific day as the biggest online shopping day of the year (complete with headline-friendly name, "Cyber Monday") and look into whether the release's claims are true or not. The journalists we have just take it as gospel and pass it along (with a few brave exceptions). Beyond pathetic.