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Cyber Monday

 
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: Cyber Monday
 
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The name given by online retailers and e-commerce experts to the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday. With its Black Friday counterpart in actual store-based traffic, analysts have pointed to significant spikes in online shopping on Cyber Monday. Coined in 2005, Cyber Monday was fueled by promotions such as free gifts and free shipping as well as by the faster Internet connections many people had at home.

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Investment Dictionary: Cyber Monday
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An expression used in online retailing to describe the Monday following U.S. Thanksgiving weekend. Cyber Monday is generally thought of as the start of the online holiday shopping season. Similar to Black Friday, (the unofficial start of the holiday season for offline businesses), online retailers will usually offer special promotions on this day.

Also known as "Black Monday".

Investopedia Says:
There are a couple of theories as to why online sales increase on Cyber Monday, although some debate whether or not all retailers experience the same trend. One theory suggests that people see items in the shopping malls over the weekend and wait until Monday to buy them online, where they can compare prices, avoid lineups and/or take advantage of free shipping or other offers. Another theory states that people have faster internet connections at work and, therefore, wait until then to make online purchases.

Related Links:
Curious about how emotions and biases affect the market? Find some useful insight here. Taking A Chance On Behavioral Finance
Discover how some strange human tendencies can play out in the market, posing the question, are we really rational? Understanding Investor Behavior


 
Wikipedia: Cyber Monday
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The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving and Christmas. [1] Whereas Black Friday is associated with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, "Cyber Monday" symbolizes a busy day for online retailers. The premise was that consumers would return to their offices after the Black Friday weekend, making purchases online that they were not able to make in stores. Although that idea has survived the test of time, Cyber Monday has evolved into a significant marketing event, sponsored by the National Retail Federation's Shop.org division, in which online retailers offer low prices and promotions.

Contents

Origin of term

The term "Cyber Monday" is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation.[2]. It was first used within the ecommerce community during the 2005 holiday season. According to Scott Silverman, the head of Shop.org, the term was coined based on research showing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.[3]

Accuracy

In late November 2005, ComScore Networks, an e-commerce tracking firm, reported that online spending on Cyber Monday, excluding travel, was $486 million, a 26 percent increase from a year earlier. Total visits to shopping sites increased by 35 percent compared to a year earlier, according to Akamai Technologies.[4] In late 2005, after the holidays, ecommerce sites reported that the busiest shopping days usually were between December 5-15 in a given year.[2] For 2005, the year the term Cyber Monday was coined, the busiest online shopping day of the year in the U.S. was actually December 12, two weeks after "Cyber Monday".[5] Shop.org's survey of its members found that their busiest day in 2005 was December 12.[6] MasterCard's worldwide (not just U.S.) data for 2005 showed that the day with the highest amount of Web transactions processed was December 5.[6] In November 2006, prior to the holidays, MasterCard reported that an online survey it had commissioned found that only 10 percent of Americans said they would shop on the Web on Cyber Monday.[6]

Criticism

Some critics online and in the media have called for a boycott of the term, calling it a useless media buzzword with no basis in fact. Fark founder Drew Curtis critically mocks the term in his book It's Not News, It's Fark as a leading example of holiday-based "fluff journalism".[7]

Website

At the official Cyber Monday site run by Shop.org, more than 500 retailers offered discounts for the 2007 holidays. As a Motley Fool article noted, many of these same deals can be found elsewhere. A percentage of the proceeds of the site benefits the Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund, which gives scholarships to students pursuing an education in e-commerce.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tedeschi, Bob (November 26, 2007). "A Gimmick Becomes a Real Trend.". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/technology/26ecom.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  2. ^ a b Hof, Robert D. (2005-11-29). "Cyber Monday, Marketing Myth". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2005/nf20051129_9946_db016.htm. Retrieved on 2007-11-16. 
  3. ^ "Shop 'til your mouse breaks: Etailers await "Cyber" Monday". CNN.com. 2005-11-28. http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/21/news/economy/cyber_monday/index.htm. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  4. ^ Buechner, Maryanne Murray. "How to Find the Best Shopping Online". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1134823,00.htm. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  5. ^ Barbaro, Michael (2005-12-30). "Internet Sales Show Big Gains Over Holidays". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/technology/30online.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-16. 
  6. ^ a b c Lombardi, Candace (2005-11-28). "Cyber Monday more myth than reality?". CNET News.com. http://www.news.com/Cyber-Monday-more-myth-than-reality/2100-1017_3-6137302.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  7. ^ Drew Curtis. It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News. Gotham. ISBN 1-59240-291-7. 
  8. ^ Yochim, Dayana (2007-11-14). "Sleep In and Save on Cyber Monday". Motley Fool. http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2007/11/14/sleep-in-and-save-on-cyber-monday.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 

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