Cyber Monday officially came into it's own this year. According to an article in the New York Times, "A Shopping Day Invented for the Web Comes of Age" (see link below), the day marks the best day of selling for e-commerce in U.S. history. Total sales rose 22% and hit $1.3 billion. Though this is still roughly a 10th of the money spent on Black Friday, it non-the-less shows that online commerce is a serious force.
One aspect I found particularly interesting was Cyber Monday's ability to expand beyond big box stores such as Walmart and Target. During the first few years, the event basically mimicked Black Friday. People gravitated towards brands they associated with sales typical for the day after Thanksgiving. This year, groups such Groupon and LivingSocial got into the action. Also, the travel industry heavily took advantage with companies such as Kimpton and Starwood offering limited time discounts.
What businesses seem to have finally grasped is the opportunity to digital market themselves by not replicating chain goods stores, but instead adapting online tactics to an increasingly web-savvy audience that desires discounts across industries. The result is a much more diverse and growing market for e-goods.
It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. I foresee that in the next few years we will actually see Cyber Monday bypass Black Friday in sales. There will, of course, be the traditionalists looking for deals, but as the space becomes more and more competitive and more tools (apps mostly) become available to aggriagate sales data it will become clear the best deals are found online.
Someday soon, camping out in a parking lot of discounted Christmas presents will be a thing of the past. Thank goodness!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/technology/cyber-monday-sales-give-retailers-a-holiday-shopping-boost.html?_r=1&ref=technology
No comments:
Post a Comment