Retailers, shoppers prepare for Cyber Monday splurge
Online deals build on strong weekend sales
After a four-day holiday weekend shopping frenzy, consumers have sights set on the next discount shopping target — Cyber Monday.
Some 122 million Americans are expected to take to their computers, smartphones or other devices to scoop up bargains, up by 1 million from a year ago, the National Retail Federation forecasts.
“Millions of consumers shopped over Thanksgiving weekend and reserved a portion of their budgets exclusively for Cyber Monday,” says the federation’s CEO Matthew Shay in a statement. He says they know “there will be digital deals that are too good to pass up.”
Cyber Monday, on which retailers offer promotions exclusively online, is being fed by consumers’ insatiable appetite for cool electronics and by traditional retailers like Walmart and Target intent on seeing more of their more sales coming from the Internet. They are hoping to take back more market share from Amazon and other online sellers.
“Cyber Monday — it’s going to be really good,” said Jenah Marsh of Covina, Calif., as she shopped Friday with friend Tammy Frame of Thousand Oaks, Calif., at The Oaks Shopping Center. The Black Friday deals left her cold, but she was brimming with optimism about Monday.
For retailers, Cyber Monday represents a last-gasp chance to build on strong weekend sales.
More than 154 million consum- ers whipped out their wallets over Thanksgiving weekend, up from 151 million shoppers last year, a survey by the federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics indicated.
Also boding well for Cyber Monday: More Americans made purchases online than in stores.
Walmart was among the retailers benefiting from the boom in online sales via smartphones and other mobile devices. For its Black Friday event, 70% of the retailer’s online traffic was through mobile. And 60% of orders on Walmart.com were made with mobile devices.