Prepare for Cyber Thanksgiving to Replace Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday, the supposed biggest online shopping day of the year, may be facing extinction. Already under attack from sources saying it's not really the biggest day of online shopping, the Acquity Group, an eCommerce consulting firm, says soon it won't even be in the top 10.

Cyber Monday and the hoopla surrounding it began a few years ago as employees returning to work used the company high speed to order their gifts. Mark Rein, Director of the Multi-Channel Retail practice at Acquity Group, has noticed that with broadband penetrating a good majority of U.S. households, most consumers are starting their online browsing earlier.

“In our discussions with retailers we found significant increases in traffic on Thanksgiving and on Friday after shoppers had returned from the stores,” Rein said. “High-speed connectivity makes for a much more enjoyable and efficient online shopping experience and traditionally consumers waited until they got back to work to shop online. With the increased availability of bandwidth at home consumers don’t have to wait until Monday any more.”

Cyber Monday, though recently discredited as the top online shopping day of the year, still drives a large chunk of online revenue for retailers. Rein says that’s due largely in part to the major sales and offers on that day.

“Though we see large number of people browsing on Thursday and Friday, they are willing to wait until Monday to actually purchase. Factors like reduced pricing and free shipping drive this demand.”

Rein believes that in the next year smart retailers will realize that the demand for online purchases is there on Thursday and Friday and will begin offers on these days to capture this early browsing traffic.

“The consumers are there and willing to buy, but when they know that there is a better deal coming in a few days, they will wait,” Rein advised. “If retailers make that offer on Thursday and Friday, they can capture that market and avoid losing the traffic to competitors.”

Eventually all retailers will catch up to this trend and Cyber Monday will be effectively eliminated. But until that happens, any smart retailers ahead of the trend could enjoy an advantage over the competition for the next 2-3 years. In the battle for Christmas, that advantage could be huge.

Comments

[amy]

Interesting article. I think more and more people are comfortable shopping online because of the convience involved. Alot of sites offer easier ways to find the best deals available. One site that I have used for all my shopping is www.dealtaker.com. I've been able to find great deals on prices and shipping.

[Mister Zippy]

I think 12/10 (Monday) has come out as the larger of the two days, as compared to CyberMondy. I agree though, CyberMonday does kick things off.