'Cyber Monday' Sets Record For Retail Sales on the Web

WSJ ^ | November 28 2007 | MYLENE MANGALINDAN

[NautiNurse]

Consumers responded eagerly to online retailers' promotions for "Cyber Monday," setting a record for single-day online retail sales.

Online sales for the Monday after Thanksgiving rose 21% to $733 million, according to comScore Inc., a Reston, Va., market research company that tracks Internet sales and traffic.

snip

This year, 44% of Internet users shopped online Monday, with 60% of dollars spent online that day coming from work computers, while the balance came from home and university computers, according to comScore.

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[NautiNurse]

Doom and gloom takes a back seat to Christmas shopping.

Online shopping offers lots of discounts and bargains. You can even earn frequent flyer miles while cyber shopping. No crowds, no parking hassles. What's not to like?

Well, maybe the boss doesn't appreciate the lost productivity from shopping during work time.

[Cindy]

Well now, I like good news — and sales.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

...and no taxes.

[Proverbs 3-5]

I was thinking the other day the press (you know how they always put a negative spin on good news) after sales were up something like 8 1/2% on Black Friday was lamenting "well yes, but on-line sales will be down on Monday off setting this" or something like that. Also I thought I remembered them predicting that on-line sales would suppress Black Friday sales...

Am I remembering wrong???

[NautiNurse]

Depends upon the retail store. Many charge sales tax if there is a brick and mortar presence in the customer’s state.

[Proverbs 3-5]

Depends upon the retail store. Many charge sales tax if there is a brick and mortar presence in the customer’s state.

True! Also if they are owned by a store that has a brick and mortar presence. For example I have to pay sales tax to Land's End because they are owned by Sears...

[NautiNurse]

I heard a doom and gloom story telling us we shouldn't get excited about "Black Friday's" success until we saw how Monday played out.

Not to worry--they'll find a negative indicator to shove into the headlines.

[petercooper]

Free shipping, no sales tax, shop in your jammies...

[NautiNurse]

Ah yes...shopping in jammies, no make-up, no long cashier lines...

[Gorzaloon]

Ah yes...shopping in jammies, no make-up, no long cashier lines...

And if you run the numbers for a trip to the Mall, and pay yourself the Minimum Wage to do it, you find that the "Guy In The Brown Truck" can do it a lot cheaper than you can.

[7thson]

I purchased a HD LCD 47” tv on Wednesday - before Thanksgiving, from Circuit City. On Cyber Monday, the same set is being sold as a “deal” at 200 bucks more than I paid.

[NautiNurse]

LOL--one day I was trying to fix the mailbox door after the USPS worker broke it off at the hinge. FedEx guy pulled up, and dashed over to fix it for me.

Now that's service above and beyond the call of duty.

[Gorzaloon]

LOL--one day I was trying to fix the mailbox door after the USPS worker broke it off at the hinge. FedEx guy pulled up, and dashed over to fix it for me.

Now that's service above and beyond the call of duty.

That is the beauty of competition! You should have held out for the DHL truck-You might have gotten a new mailbox.

[NautiNurse]

Comparison shopping online is a whole lot easier than driving around store to store.

[NautiNurse]

You should have held out for the DHL truck-You might have gotten a new mailbox.

ROFL!

[randita]

Got a pair of shoes - 20% off with CYBERMONDAY discount code. Took a couple of minutes - paid no tax and burned no gas. Sweet.

[Gorzaloon]

Comparison shopping online is a whole lot easier than driving around store to store.

As long as you watch out for the "Reviews". A lot of them are salted by the bad companies.

Search "Broadway Camera Scam" on Google and prepare to be entertained. I found it is ALWAYS best, EVERY TIME, when encountering the lowest online price to ALWAYS take a minute to enter "(Business Name) Scam" prior to ordering. You can save yourself from some terrible experiences. Some of these places do business under a dozen or more names, and often are a hole-in-the-wall operation.

[Tanniker Smith]

"Cyber Monday"? I wish they'd stop making up names.

Cyber Monday, if it ever existed, doesn't exist the way it used to. People used to start shopping after Thanksgiving. Then they'd go back to work and shop online.

Most people are capable of shopping online at home now. They have the computers, they have the access and they have the speed that they didn't in years past. No reason to wait for the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Nothing kills a predictable trend like telling people that they're part of it!

[NautiNurse]

Got a pair of shoes - 20% off with CYBERMONDAY discount code.

Love it! I admit, I'm a preferred shopper with Zappos. Imelda and I have one common affinity...

[NautiNurse]

That’s when it really pays to review the online shopping comparison sites. Lots of mediocre reviews with an occasional good one = stay away. In these cases, the lowest price is, indeed, too good to be true.