Cyber Monday Turns Into Cyber Weekend For Holiday Sales
Cyber Monday is quickly morphing into Cyber Weekend, according to CIO. Marketing departments at major retailers already trying to avoid the usage of “Cyber Monday” by taking the Monday out of Cyber Monday. Walmart announced today that its Cyber Monday sales will kick off on Saturday and is renaming the time between November 24 and December 2 to “Cyber Week.” Because of business decisions like this analysts are predicting that Cyber Mon…er, Weekend sales might increase to as much as $2 billion.
According to a survey by PriceGrabber, when 4,958 U.S. online shoppers were asked which days they plan to shop over the long Thanksgiving weekend, 41 percent chose the online shopping experience of Cyber Monday. That’s up from 37 percent from 2011 and 33 percent in 2010. Cyber Monday daily deals and free shipping, never mind no sales taxes, are a big lure to 84 percent of those surveyed. This can be a huge cost for retailers, especially when it comes to shipping a 55-inch HDTV for free.
“This could be a tough Christmas season for retailers,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “Most consumers are going to be watching their spending pretty closely. By upping the ante on Cyber Monday, retailers are looking to get ahead of their competitors.”
As The Inquisitr has already reported, brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart and Target have already made plans to open for Thanksgiving day Black Friday events. Many people will be opting out and make their holiday shopping completely digital.
“This is the natural progression of retail competition,” said Olds. “First they open earlier and earlier on Friday. Now they’re opening their doors late Thursday. The same thing has to happen for their online portals too … But retailers looking to score big sales had better realize that their Cyber Monday deals will have to be truly serious discounts because consumers will be online comparing what they’re offering instantly.”
For those working on Black Friday in an office environment the day is likely to morph into Cyber Friday, with employees using their office computers to do their shopping.
“Even though Cyber Monday is probably going to eventually turn into Cyber Friday Afternoon, people will still do quite a bit of their holiday shopping from work on Monday,” Olds added. “They’ll compare notes with their co-workers and friends, then attempt to snag some deals on Monday. Plus, retailers who are disappointed with their Cyber Weekend take will probably get even a bit more aggressive on Monday.”
Cyber Monday turning into Cyber Weekend is just another symptom of Black November. So here is a question to you, dear readers: do you consider this progression a spreading greed disease or an invaluable increase in time to shop for good deals?
