Monday, December 1, 2008

Cyber Schmyber

Sorry, folks, Cyber Monday is a myth. An invention of the retail industry to make you think that everyone else is shopping online. According to Snopes.com, it's not usually even in the top ten among busiest online sales days - it comes in 12th.

The term was coined by a retailing organization looking for a counterpart to Black Friday, and it has become a busy day for online retailers (I just realized that I ordered something online today! It was work related, though) and there may even be some records set for the year to date - but stay tuned. As far as the biggest sales days online, the Monday and Tuesday in the two weeks before Christmas have been bigger.

Just like Black Friday has never really been the biggest shopping day of the year (the Saturday before Christmas is), Cyber Monday has never been the biggest online sales day. So don't be discouraged if your Cyber Monday isn't what you hoped. Get ready for the 8th and the 15th.

4 comments:

Sleepless in SoCo said...

As an ex-retail manager, I can say that Black Friday blew away any other day as far as sales went. The day after Christmas was always a lot more busy than the Saturday before!

I'm sure your facts come from some kind of nation-wide study, but both malls I worked in were definitely different.

pickleberries said...

Thanks! you have made the day of a lot of artisans. :)

Bookman said...

Earthcharms,

Yes, these are average numbers. Also, they're for sales figures and not necessarily how many people are "out" on any one day. I think a lot of people go out on Black Friday because it's an event, even if they don't complete their shopping or actually buy anything at all. Just like the actual busiest day online for online retailers as far as number of visits last year was Thanksgiving Day itself! People were going to the big stores' sites to check out hours and the bargains for the following day, but they weren't buying anything.

Maddie and Mommy said...

SIGH! Thank you so very much for that tid bit of information. It makes me feel much better.