While Black Friday may have once been the popular day to look for bargains, Cyber Monday certainly offers some of the best online prices. The Monday after Black Friday, Cyber Monday has grown to gain global fame. Several online retailers, such as Amazon and BestBuy.com, offer online deals that cannot be found in stores. Consumers take advantage of these Cyber Monday deals by shopping online instead of actually venturing to the store. This convenience prevents the need to wait in line and deal with undesirable crowds. What’s more, most of the online retailers offer free shipping on this day. As a result, the trend is growing towards more shoppers seeking online deals rather than in-store prices.
Magazines and critics have labeled Cyber Monday as “the biggest shopping day of the year.” Websites are dedicated to providing consumers with all of the information necessary for them to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deals. Analysts have even stated that in terms of sales, Cyber Monday is usually the highest spending day of the year.
Cyber Monday originated in 2005 when Shop.org came up with the term. Marketers immediately hopped on the bandwagon and began advertising deals that would become available on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Many were shocked at the response, as Black Friday crowds were nowhere near their normal levels. Consumers then looked to take advantage of websites that published the Cyber Monday deals ahead of time. For instance, CyberMonday.com was set up so that consumers had a quick reference to any deals that were of relevant interest.
For the most part, the Cyber Monday deals are most notable on the large-ticket items. For example, televisions, laptops and digital cameras are just a few of the items that are marked down substantially. Clothing is also priced remarkably lower than normal. Some of the most popular retailers offering significant Cyber Monday deals include Old Navy, Kohl’s, Target, Amazon.com, Walmart, BestBuy, Apple and Sears. Nowadays, all of these retailers release dedicated advertisements beforehand so that consumers are fully aware of the discounts that are available. In addition, consumers can subscribe to e-mail lists and receive notifications immediately after new deal announcements are released to the general public.
How have the Cyber Monday deals shaped consumer demand? As stated earlier, sales volume has decreased substantially on Black Friday, as consumers would rather not wait in lines and deal with the hassle of getting up early. Analysts believe that one of the main attractions of the Cyber Monday deals is the fact that most items are offered with free shipping. This discount gives huge incentive for consumers to purchase items online rather than in the store since no additional costs will be incurred. At the same time, consumers have to be quick to act on the deals, as stores can sell out of items rather quickly. To put this notion into perspective, one must consider that the transaction processing under an online order is much quicker when compared to a transaction at the actual register. The decreased time means that more items can be purchased at a faster rate, thus causing items to sell out much more quickly. While the Cyber Monday deals usually do not require that one be up at the crack of dawn, consumers do need to be swift when hoping to guarantee a particular item.
Another notable impact Cyber Monday has had on the consumer market is that the Black Friday deals are now extended through the weekend. The original idea of Black Friday was to lure as many consumers as possible into the stores at a particular time. Basically, early bird discounts allowed those who put in the effort to get the best price. However, since Black Friday deals are no longer as competitive as they used to be, deals are now extended throughout the whole weekend. In some cases, the same deals may be advertised on Cyber Monday if stores do not run out of stock. Ultimately, the existence of Cyber Monday really allows retailers to leverage their marketing tactics.
One must keep in mind that today’s consumer market still has shoppers that are not comfortable with the Internet. For the most part, these are the consumers that will continue to take advantage of Black Friday and neglect Cyber Monday. Some economists do believe, however, that Black Friday may eventually no longer exist once the consumer market has fully transitioned to online purchasing. Until that time comes, consumers will benefit from the deals offered on both days. Retailers have and will continue, to continuously perform the necessary analysis to determine the optimal levels of inventory that must be kept on hand to meet consumer demand. With the increasing popularity of the Internet, it comes as no surprise that Cyber Monday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
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