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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."
A lot of the reason for the online growth is that people tend to be an impatient lot and as just about everywhere is shut Christmas day and many also on the 26th, people can't wait for the stores to open, also add to the people who got their first computer as a gift (hopefully a mac unless they're comfortable with Linux) may be keen to make their first online purchase.
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.
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
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.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
Didn't you get the memo? They're putting the bubble back together again.
I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
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*.
Penny - plain text accounting
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.
You call that rationalizing? I'm sure you can do better than that. Try this:
The scientists are only like 99% sure of this global warming thing, so I'll continue live in that 1% margin of error where I can drive my SUV an hour each way to work. If we run out of oil we'll just say that venezuela or canada has WMDs or something. I work hard all day browsing the internet and posting on web forums. I deserve to have brand name clothes made by children in some sweatshop somewhere. I need that cell phone made from materials mined by slaves in africa so I can text message my votes for american idol, which I watch on my Plasma HDTV. Sure I'd like to give money to charity, but you know they'll just waste it. Only my opinion matters, everyone who disagrees with me is a hypocrite. People should either be rich enough to not care about the world or poor enough to not have the means to criticize the way world works.
Now that's how you rationalize.
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.
Rich people are eccentric. Poor people are strange. Me, I'd be happy with odd.
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.
Read my blog.