Cyber Monday Sales typically mark the busiest online shopping day of the year, falling on the back-to-work Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the U.S.
This year, Cyber Monday sales rose just 8.5 percent compared with online sales growth of 20.6 percent on the same day last year.
Spencer Soper cites the Cyber Monday statistics in a recent Bloomberg article about Cyber Monday sales. According to Soper’s article, consumers are spreading out their online shopping instead of jumping on one-day discounts like Black Friday.
“We’re still getting really strong growth on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but people are realizing it’s a season of shopping,” says Soren Mills, chief marketing officer at Newegg Inc., an online electronics retailer.
Other factors contributing to the declining growth were the earlier start to the holiday shopping season this year and online retailers offering specials before Black Friday. In fact, shopping online was up 17 percent on Saturday and Sunday, compared with 2013. Soper quotes Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrestor Research, as saying “Black Friday becomes more irrelevant every year.” Mulpuru’s foresees online shopping sales of $89 this year.
Ebay sales were up 19 percent on Cyber Monday. Amazon was behind with 12 percent growth. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a record number of website orders Monday, and is extending its online specials for what it’s calling “Cyber Week.”
Overall, the retail industry’s Black Friday holiday-shopping launch didn’t measure up to expectations. The National Retail Federation said on Monday, December 1, that weekend spending dropped approximately 11 percent compared to 2013.
