Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

High hopes pinned to Cyber Monday

Most e-tailers plan to celebrate season with sales

By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 28, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

More Tech & Telecom

More stories »

If you can't find what you're looking for today at your favorite brick and mortar, you might want to turn to the Internet.

As soon as Black Friday ends, the stage will be set for Cyber Monday, a day when Americans increasingly take a break (hopefully at lunch) from work to shop for holiday gifts online.

"I think it's going to be a very promotional holiday season and retailers will not be disappointing people on Cyber Monday," said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation.

In fact, a Shop.org survey released this week found that 83.7 percent of e-commerce retailers will have promotions and special deals Monday, up from 72.2 percent a year ago.

With so many Americans connected to the Internet via broadband services at home, some think Cyber Monday - coined by Shop.org in 2005 - is a bit of a contrivance. But the e-commerce industry has rallied around the concept in hopes of jump-starting holiday sales and fueling a year-end spending spurt to offset a disappointing past few months.

It worked last year, when Cyber Monday generated $733 million in online spending - a 21 percent increase over 2006, according to comScore Inc., a market-research firm. Perhaps more important, Cyber Monday represented an 84 percent jump over the average daily online spending during the previous four weeks.

Shop.org's CyberMonday.com is a handy resource for learning about e-commerce deals. Consumers also can sign up for e-mail alerts.

Local online retailers are offering some Cyber Monday specials. EBags, for example, is promoting 10 percent off and free shipping on orders of $35 or more for most items, while AllAboardToys.com is offering free shipping on orders exceeding $59, and 10 percent to 40 percent off selected items.

Shipping costs can be a deterrent to shopping on the Internet. But that's changing, too. Shop.org found that 22.5 percent of the e-commerce retailers it surveyed will offer free shipping.

For many consumers, the ease and efficiency of shopping online trump any drawbacks.

Amanda Pires said she'll do "99 percent" of her holiday shopping online. "I have two little kids, so I don't have time to go to the mall," she said.

Pires may be biased. After all, she's marketing director for eBay Inc.'s PayPal, an e-commerce payment company. Still, there's little doubt that online shopping is becoming mainstream, in part because of efficiency and the ability to comparison shop.

PayPal's holiday survey found that 80 percent of consumers plan to do more online shopping this year.

"Even some of the third-party analysts are telling us that while consumers are definitely holding on to their cash, they are going online to find the deals and to make their money go further," Pires said.

But the weakening economy definitely is having an impact.

Online sales declined 4 percent, to $8.2 billion, during the first 23 days of November, according to comScore, and it projects that retail spending online will be flat for November and December.

The PayPal survey similarly showed that 70 percent of online shoppers intend to spend less this season.

If one misses out on Cyber Monday, there's always "Green Monday" - named for the color of cash - on the second Monday of December. That day, according to PayPal, is when it records its biggest volumes of the year.

By then, consumers still have a two-week shipping cushion before Christmas, and the deals may get even better, especially given this year's tough economy.

smithje@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5155