The trend of Cyber Monday (the Monday following Black Friday where shoppers primarily shop online) only recently caught on in 2005, but it has since brought exponential growth to the e-commerce industry. The popularity of the Cyber Monday holiday, as well as the popularity of online shopping alternatives on Black Friday, has caused the U.S. Census Bureau to predict an outstanding 17.6% leap in sales for the second quarter of 2011 compared with the second quarter of 2010.
It would appear that Cyber Monday is here to stay.
There are a few simple and somewhat obvious explanations for the consistent growth of online shopping popularity. For one, shopping online takes an enormous amount of pressure off of the shopper. Shoppers can wake up at whatever hour they choose, put on their slippers, surf the web for a few hours, and have all of their Christmas shopping done and delivered to their doorstep within the next week. Cyber Monday promises no long lines and no dead end traffic jams to worry about. Another notable reason is that online shopping ensures a greater chance of finding the exact product you want at the best price available. New apps and social media resources have made finding the right product online easier than ever.
It's clear that Cyber Monday shows no signs of slowing down, so how are businesses managing this enormous growth in popularity? Perhaps in an attempt to avoid server meltdowns, retail giant Amazon.com had already introduced its Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales by the beginning of the month. According to InternetRetailer.com, Amazon even has a countdown clock to what the company deems "Black Friday Deals Week," an event which will offer an array of discounted products and span the entire week of Thanksgiving.
Other online retail companies like Overstock.com and Woot.com are also beginning their Black Friday sales sooner to attract the Early Bird consumer base. On November 1st, Overstock.com began offering customers extra incentive to begin their holiday shopping early by promoting a free 60-day trial membership to Club O, the company's rewards program. With the program, members receive free shipping and 5% of the cost of previous purchases credited to their account for future purchases. Woot.com has already begun its Black Friday sales by promoting just one item daily that is reported to be the lowest price around.
Although companies are certainly devoting a significant amount of time and effort to attract the online consumer base, there are also many businesses looking for ways to balance online sales with brick and mortar sales. Despite the growing popularity of online sales, there are plenty of products that consumers prefer to purchase in-store for obvious reasons. Promotions like black friday hdtv sales and Black Friday car sales, for example, tend to make more sales in-store as opposed to online. For businesses to truly capitalize on the industry, studying trends in e-commerce is an important way to market effectively for Black Friday. Overall, however, for businesses all over the country, Black Friday is no longer restricted to a 24-hour period.
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