Cyber Monday tests retailers’ sites
The Cyber Monday – the Monday following Thanksgiving – online shopping frenzy kicked off with retailers offering a slew of discounts and free shipping, testing the limits of their e-commerce operations as they take millions of orders across the country.
Retailers, including Amazon.com and Target Corp., are offering deliveries with no minimum order limits and enticing deals – for example, up to 40% discount on toys like Lego sets and big screen HD TVs at half price.
The much-hyped marketing day is expected to be the largest US online shopping day ever, generating $7.8 billion in sales, according to research firm Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at most of the top US online retailers.
Drawing an estimated 75 million shoppers, the event will severely test retailers’ online platforms as well as their delivery operations. If not backed with the right IT infrastructure, the heavy traffic will lead to headaches such as outages and other technical glitches.
On Black Friday – the Friday following Thanksgiving – websites of clothing retailers J.Crew and Lululemon Athletica and home improvement chain Lowe’s suffered technical difficulties because of the surge in orders. Website outage tracker DownDetector.com also reported that Walmart’s website had some problems.
Toys are expected to have the biggest discounts on Cyber Monday, Adobe Analytics said, as retailers fill the void left by the bankruptcy of top US toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us.
Target was offering 30% off on select toys, while Kohl’s discounted Lego sets between 30% and 40%.
Clothing retailers such as Gap and Nordstrom are offering the same discounts as on Black Friday, with deals such as Gap’s 50% off across all products on its website and Nordstrom’s up to 60% on merchandise.
Shares of Amazon.com were up as much as 2.5% in premarket trading, while Macy’s, Gap and Target also rose. The stocks closed lower on Friday.
On Black Friday, online sales jumped more than 23%, crossing $6 billion, while online sales surpassed $3.7 billion on Thanksgiving, according to Adobe Analytics.
The National Retail Federation forecast US holiday retail sales, including online, in November and December will increase between 4.3% and 4.8% over 2017, for a total of $717.45 billion to $720.89 billion. That compares with an average annual increase of 3.9% over the past five years.
(Reuters)