Cyber Monday is widely regarded as the Super Bowl of online
sales. This year's Cyber Monday did not disappoint, as it set record online
retail sales and retained its status as the biggest online shopping day of the
year. In fact, since the creation of "Cyber Monday" in 2005, each
year has topped the year before in online sales, and there aren't signs of
slowing the growth either. This year's Cyber Monday sales grew
by 18% from last year. Those numbers could be higher, however, if companies
were not dragging the sales out over the entire week. Over the last couple
years we have seen a shift, as "Black Friday" has become "Black
Weekend", and "Cyber Monday" is becoming "Cyber Week".
Companies are beginning their sales earlier and keep them going longer. Because
of this, we can no longer accurately analyze growth for Black Friday or Cyber
Monday by looking at Friday's or Monday's sales figures independently.
In fact, according to an article by CNN Money, Black Friday sales
fell 13.2% from last year. However, if you look at "Black Weekend", which
spans Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, cumulative sales actually crept up 1%
compared to last year. Stores like Toys 'R' Us, WalMart, Target, and Best Buy
opened their doors on Thanksgiving Thursday, which significantly cut into the
traditional Black Friday sales. But this only partly explains the odd
distribution of sales over Black Weekend. The main culprit is online sales
channels. Black Friday is no longer a one-day event, nor is it limited to brick
and mortar establishments. In fact, we are beginning to see a shift as sales are
going cyber. According to IBM's 2013 Black Friday Report, mobile traffic for
Black Friday grew to nearly 40% of all online traffic, which is an increase of
34% from last year. Mobile sales reached 22% of total online sales, which is an
increase of nearly 43% from last year. Retailers that catered to online
customers found much success. Amazon and Ebay were extremely successful this
year siphoning customers from brick and mortar stores. While brick and mortar
black weekend sales rose just 1% from last year, sales on Amazon's and Ebay's
marketplaces rose 30% on the weekend of deals from last year. The future of
"Black Weekend" and "Cyber Week" is going cyber.