Cyber Monday morphs into ‘ omni channel’ shopping

TSAN FRANCISCO he first Monday after Thanksgiving is predicted to be the biggest online shopping day of the year for American consumers, even as the notion of Cyber Monday fades slightly as the line between online and in person shopping blurs.

The percentage of their holiday shopping Americans do online continues to increase. A report by Forrester Research finds that while online sales are about 10% of retail sales overall, they jump to 15% during the months of November and December.

Americans will spend an estimated $ 87.5 billion on retail ecommerce sales, the U. S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimated in a report released Tuesday.

The report said e- commerce increased 15% from the third quarter of 2014, while retail sales grew only 1.6% over the same period.

However, the once clear demarcation between online and in person shopping is morphing into what retailers call “omni channel” sales, in which customers move seamlessly between their computers, their phones and their feet to shop.

“Consumers don’t care about channel. They don’t care whether they’re looking at it on a phone or standing in a store,” said Vicki Cantrell, executive director of the National Retail Federation’s digital retail division.

The four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday have become one long sale- focused shopping period.

“It’s retailers’ strongest punch of the year. They’ve really got that weekend to swing at it and move a lot of merchandise,” said Gene Alvarez, chief e- commerce analyst for tech research company Gartner.

In addition, promotions and discounts on the Web are becoming available much earlier in the year.

Historically, the launch of the Christmas shopping season was the day after Thanksgiving. Because it was supposed to be the day retailers went from operating at a financial loss to being “in the black,” it was dubbed Black Friday. BACK IN THE DAYS OF DIAL- UP

Cyber Monday started out in the early 2000s. Online shopping existed, but many didn’t have Internet access, or sometimes even computers, at home.

“I remember those days. People had slow, dial- up connections at home,” Alvarez said.

The trend didn’t go unnoticed. “People who were running the digital sides of business were saying that their sales really spiked on Monday,” Cantrell said.

The organization coined the phrase “Cyber Monday” and created a site, cybermonday. com.

Today, Cyber Monday is no longer driven by consumer behavior.

“Before it was the egg. Now it’s the chicken,” said John Talbott, with Indiana University’s Center for Education and Research in Retailing.

The shift was rapid. “It’s funny how quickly traditions take hold. Here we are talking about something that’s just 10 years old, but the kids in my freshman class can’t imagine a time when it didn’t exist,” he said.

Black Friday “was supposed to be the day retailers went from operating at a financial loss to being ‘ in the black.’ ”