Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States. The term "Cyber Monday" was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online. The term made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled "'Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year".^[1]

According to the Shop.org/Bizrate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, "77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)". In 2010, comScore^[2] reported that consumers spent $1.028 Billion online on Cyber Monday (excluding travel, 2009: $887M), the highest spending day of 2010.

Cyber Monday has become an international marketing term used by online retailers in Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.

Origin of term

The term was first used within the ecommerce community during the 2005 holiday season. According to Scott Silverman, the head of Shop.org, the term was coined based on 2004 research showing "one of the biggest online shopping days of the year" was the Monday after Thanksgiving (12th-biggest day historically).^{[citation needed]} Retailers also noted the biggest period was December 5 through 15 of the previous year.^[3][4] In late November 2005, The New York Times reported: "The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked."^[5] The idea for having such a holiday was created by Tony Valado,^[6] in 2003 while working at 1800Flowers.com, and coined White Wednesday to be the day before Thanksgiving for online retailers.

United States

Online spending

In 2006, comScore reported that online spending on Cyber Monday jumped 25% to $608 million,^[7] 21% to $733 million in 2007,^[8] and 15% to $846 million in 2008.^[9]

In 2009, comScore reported that online spending increased 5 percent on Cyber Monday to $887 million and that more than half of dollars spent online at US Web sites originated from work computers (52.7 percent), representing a gain of 2.3 percentage points from last year.^[10] Buying from home comprised the majority of the remaining share (41.6 percent) while buying from international locations accounted for 5.8 percent. According to comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, “comScore data have shown that Cyber Monday online sales have always been driven by considerable buying activity from work locations. That pattern hasn’t changed. After returning from the long Thanksgiving weekend with a lot of holiday shopping still ahead of them, many consumers tend to continue their holiday shopping from work. Whether to take advantage of the extensive Cyber Monday deals offered by retailers or to buy gifts away from the prying eyes of family members, this day has become an annual ritual for America’s online holiday shoppers.”^[10]

In 2010, comScore reported the first-ever $1 billion online shopping day ($1028M), an increase of 16 percent over 2009.^[11] In 2011, comScore reported that Cyber Week saw US consumers spend over $6 billion online from November 28 to December 2.^[12] In 2012, comScore reported that Cyber Monday saw a 17% increase in sales from 2011, totaling $1.465 billion.^[13]

Employers and online shopping

U.S. employers have been cracking down on employees using company equipment and company time for non-work-related purposes, including Cyber Monday. As of November 2011, 22% of employers had fired an employee for using the Internet for non-work related activity; 7% of human resource managers surveyed had fired an employee for holiday shopping; and 54% of employers were blocking employees from accessing certain websites.^[14]

Other countries

Americas

Canada

Cyber Monday came to Canada in 2008.^[15] The National Post featured an article, in the November 25, 2010, edition, stating that the parity of the Canadian dollar with the US dollar caused many Canadian retailers to have Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales of their own. According to the article, an estimated 80% of Canadians were expected to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.^[16] Speculation has been made that with all major US television broadcasters—which are typically available to Canadians—emphasizing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales for stores that are also doing business in Canada, Canadian retailers needed to mimic sales offerings in order to keep Canadian dollars from being spent in the US.^[16]

By 2011, around 80% of online retailers in Canada were participating in Cyber Monday.^[15]

Asia

India

India got its own version of the Cyber Monday (Great Online Shopping Festival) on 12 December 2012 when Google India partnered with many e-commerce companies including Flipkart, Snapdeal, HomeShop18, Indiatimes shopping, and MakeMyTrip. Google said that this was the first time an industry-wide initiative of this scale was undertaken.^[17]

Japan

Amazon.co.jp announced it registered as Cyber Monday with Japan Anniversary Association in 2012. Amazon.co.jp will run Cyber Monday Seven Day Sale from Dec 10 through Dec 16, 2012.^[18]

Europe

France

Inspired by the U.S. phenomenon, the term Cyber Monday was first used in France in 2008.^[19]

Germany

Amazon.de announced that it brought Cyber Monday to Germany in 2010.^[20]

Portugal

In Portugal, the term Cyber Monday was first used in 2009.^[21]

United Kingdom

According to a 2009 The Guardian article, UK online retailers are now referring to "Cyber Monday" as the busiest internet shopping day of the year that commonly falls on the same day as the US Cyber Monday.^[22]

Oceania

Australia

Beginning at 7pm AEDT on 20 November 2012, Australian online retailers held a similar event for the first time, dubbed "Click Frenzy". Many websites immediately crashed, went offline, or had major server issues, including the Click Frenzy promotion website. A major Australian retailer, David Jones, ran a competing sale dubbed 'Christmas Frenzy' on the same date.

New Zealand

Online retailer Belly Beyond held the first Cyber Monday Sale in New Zealand on 29 November 2010.^[23] The sale lasted for five days, from Monday to Friday.

South America

Chile

Chile's first Cyber Monday took place on 28 November 2011. The companies participating in the event are participants in the Santiago Chamber of Commerce's Electronic Commerce Committee.^[24]

Colombia

The first Cyber Monday in Colombia took place on 26 November 2012. It was organized by the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce and sponsored by the Ministry of IT and Telecommunications.^[25]

See also

• Black Friday (shopping)

References