6 question for Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org

Rocky Mountain News

Published December 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Special to the Rocky

Scott Silverman

6 QUESTIONS FOR

Scott Silverman

* Executive director of Shop.org

Today is CyberMonday, the Internet's version of Black Friday, a day even more critical for retailers this year given the weakening economy, deteriorating consumer confidence and lackluster e-commerce sales.

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, coined the term in 2005, after noticing a trend of consumers shopping on Internet sites the Monday after Thanksgiving.

BusinessWeek magazine quickly called it a "marketing myth," and PayPal reports that "Green Monday" - the second Monday in December - is actually its busiest day. But CyberMonday has taken on a life of its own, becoming the launch pad for holiday online sales.

ComScore Inc., a market research firm, reported last year that CyberMonday generated $733 million in online spending, a 21 percent increase over 2006, and an 84 percent jump over the average daily online spending during the preceding four weeks.

This year, 83.7 percent of e-commerce companies are planning special promotions today, up from 72.2 percent a year ago, according to a Shop.org survey released last week.

The Rocky Mountain News conducted a telephone interview Tuesday with Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org about CyberMonday trends. Excerpts follow:

1 What struck you about the (Shop.org) survey results?

The fact that we are seeing almost all the retailers offering some type of CyberMonday promotion - 84 percent. I find that remarkable considering the fact that CyberMonday didn't come into existence until 2005.

2 There's been a lot of talk about CyberMonday not being as important anymore now that so many people have broadband in their homes. Your survey however, as you pointed out, shows more retailers will have promotions on that day than ever before.

In addition to (the CyberMonday promotions), we are seeing a continued increase in the percentage of workers who have Internet access at their office and who will be shopping for holiday gifts from work. It made sense at the time that when broadband was moving into the homes that they wouldn't need to shop at work as much, but it doesn't seem to be playing out that way. When you're shopping at work, you can shop without anyone looking over your shoulder and you can surprise your family with the gifts.

3 Do you hear of employers cracking down on shopping at work especially given this economy?

I don't see a lot of that happening. I think a lot of people will shop on their lunch hours. Employers realize people mix working and nonworking activities all the time. As much time as they're shopping at work, they're probably replying to e-mails at home. Shopping at work also takes less time out of the day than going to the stores.

4 Any new trends this year?

We're seeing that retailers are using the Internet more to promote not just CyberMonday but Black Friday and shopping in the stores. They'll be using search-engine advertising and e-mail and their home pages to make customers aware of what's happening in their stores.

5 What online gifts do you expect to be hot this year?

Books, music, videos and DVDs, apparel, consumer electronics. Those are the categories in our survey that are most likely to be purchased online.

6 You can't negotiate online can you? We're hearing more people will be able to negotiate at stores this year.

You can't negotiate (online) but it's a lot easier to shop around for lower prices.

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