It's unofficial - according to the US, the busiest online shopping day of the year is Cyber Monday - the first Monday after Thanksgiving. The US National Retail Federation coined the phrase and many online retailers gear up their annual sales for this day. Business analysts now have data from ‘Black Friday' online sales (the day after Thanksgiving when many people are home for Thanksgiving) and although gloomy reports have been posted, there is optimism for today's online trading (Monday 30 November).
According to an article on www.pcmag.com, ShopperTrak claim sales (across 500,000 locations) hit $10.66 billion on Black Friday - only a 0.5% increase of figures for 2008. Gloomier still, were reports from BIGresearch (survey partner to the NRF), calculating that total spend per person for Black Friday 2009 was $343.31 against a figure of $372.57 in the previous year - a 7.9% decrease. On the plus side, website traffic increased from 172 million in 2008 to 195 million across the entire weekend.
Other data was more promising however - comScore reported an 11% increase in online spending this year showing $595 million - which was “the second heaviest online spending day of the season to date…While this acceleration in spending suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.” (Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman). Online sales for Black Friday are generally a good indication for how the holiday season will fair, but the real test will come once Cyber Monday's statistics are in.
A survey conducted by BIGresearch found that 96.5 million US consumers planned to make online purchases (up around 12% on last year). PayPal, on the other hand, claim their busiest day will be the second Monday in December.
Here in the UK, Amazon ramped up their infrastructure for Cyber Monday and opened a fifth distribution centre to cope with demand. As reported on the Guardian's website, Amazon is forecasting a 21-36% increase in sales this year.
Figures for online growth vary amongst analysts, with the Office for National Statistics stating that online retail sales accounted for just 3.5% of total retail sales whereas IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) suggests that figure is more likely to be around 10-15%. The rate of online growth is likely to slow this year in line with current economic constraints - but also high street retailers are gaining ground on their online competitors and creating a strong presence on the internet - the John Lewis site is seeing its online sales grow at around 30% each year.
In an article posted on the Telegraph's website, analysts are predicting Cyber Monday will be the busiest online shopping day of 2009 - and consumers are using the likes of Twitter and Facebook to take advantage of online promotions. Retailers and consumers are seeing the mutual benefit of posting voucher codes to social networking sites with retailers giving their customer base access to exclusive deals for a finite period.
However, experts predict Cyber Monday will become less of an indicator of Christmas sales as more homes have broadband access. Historically, consumers would visit high street stores on the previous weekend and then placed orders online at their place of work on the following Monday. With online suppliers offering last-gasp orders in time for Christmas and more homes with faster access, there will less pressure to order online at the start of the Christmas rush.
privacy and cookies policy