Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday
Observed by	United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Portugal, and Germany
Date	Monday after Black Friday
2010 date	November 29
2011 date	November 28
2012 date	November 26
Celebrations	Shopping
Related to	U.S. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Christmas

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, created by 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 last year on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)". In 2006, Shop.org announced^[2] that it launched the CyberMonday.com portal, a one-stop shop for Cyber Monday deals. In 2010, comScore^[3] reported that consumers spent $1028M 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, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany and New Zealand.

Origin of term

The term "Cyber Monday" is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation.^[4] It 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 research showing that 78% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004.^[5] In late November 2005, the New York Times reported that "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."^[6]

United States

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 U.S. 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]

Cyber Monday Online Sales Source: comScore, Inc.
Day	Year	Sales in Millions ($)	% Change
November 27	2006	$610	N/A
November 26	2007	$730	20%
December 1	2008	$846	16%
November 30	2009	$887	5%
November 29	2010	$1,028	16%

Canada

The National Post featured an article in the November 25, 2010 edition, stating that the parity of their dollar with the U.S. dollar is causing 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.^[12] Speculation has been made that with all major U.S. 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 U.S.^[12]

United Kingdom, Germany and Europe

Cyber Monday is also used as a marketing term in the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and France.

• According to the Guardian, 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.^[13]
• Amazon.de announced that it brought Cyber Monday to Germany in 2010.^[14]
• In Portugal, the term Cyber Monday was first used in 2009.^[15]
• Inspired by the U.S. phenomenon, the term Cyber Monday was first used in France in 2008.^[16]

New Zealand

Online retailer, Belly Beyond, held the first Cyber Monday Sale in New Zealand on 29 November 2010.^[17] The sale lasted for five days, from Monday to Friday.

Website

At the official Cyber Monday site run by Shop.org, more than 600 retailers offer discounts as of 2009. A percentage of the proceeds of the site benefits the Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund, which gives scholarships to students wanting to better their education in e-commerce.

References

1. ^ "'Cyber Monday' Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year". Shop.org. http://www.shop.org/c/journal_articles/view_article_content?groupId=1&articleId=623&version=1.0. 
2. ^ "As More Consumers Shop from Work, Retailers Gear Up for Cyber Monday -- CyberMonday.com Debuts for Shoppers Seeking Online Deals". Shop.org. http://www.shop.org/c/journal_articles/view_article_content?groupId=1&articleId=605&version=1.0. 
3. ^ "U.S. Online Holiday Shopping Season Reaches Record $32.6 Billion for November-December Period, Up 12 Percent vs. Year Ago". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/U.S._Online_Holiday_Shopping_Season_Reaches_Record_32.6_Billion_for_November_December_Period. 
4. ^ Hof, Robert D. (November 29, 2005). "Cyber Monday, Marketing Myth". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/nov2005/nf20051129_9946_db016.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-16. 
5. ^ "Shop 'til your mouse breaks: Etailers await "Cyber" Monday". CNN.com. November 28, 2005. http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/21/news/economy/cyber_Thursday/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-26. 
6. ^ Michael Barbaro (November 11, 2005). "Online sales take off on 'Cyber Monday'". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/technology/30iht-cyber.html?scp=12&sq=cyber%20Thursday&st=cse. 
7. ^ "Cyber Monday E-Commerce Spending Beats Forecast; Climbs 25 Percent Versus Last Year to $608 Million". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2006/11/Cyber_Monday_E-Commerce_Beats_Forecast. 
8. ^ "Cyber Monday Spending Propels Holiday E-Commerce to Strong Week of More than $4 Billion in Sales". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2007/12/Cyber_Monday_Holiday_E-Commerce. 
9. ^ "E-Commerce Spending Jumps 15 Percent on Cyber Monday to $846 Million, the Second Heaviest Online Spending Day on Record". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2008/12/Cyber_Monday_Sales_Reach_846_Million. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Cyber Monday Online Sales Up 5 Percent vs. Year Ago to $887 Million to Match Heaviest Online Spending Day in History". comScore. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/12/Cyber_Monday_Online_Sales_Up_5_Percent_vs._Year_Ago_to_887_Million_to_Match_Heaviest_Online_Spending_Day_in_History. 
11. ^ Anderson, Mae (2010-12-01). "Cyber Monday biggest spending day online ever, firm says sales top $1 billion". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-us-holiday-shopping,0,5612342.story. Retrieved 2010-12-02. 
12. ^ ^{a b} http://arts.nationalpost.com/2010/11/25/retail-therapy-canadians-prep-for-black-friday-cyber-Thursday/
13. ^ Teather, David (2009-11-23). "Amazon gets set for cyber Monday as Christmas shopping online clicks - Internet retailers are preparing for a deluge of online orders on their busiest day of the year in the lead-up to Christmas". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/23/amazon-christmas-online-shopping-cyber-Thursday. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
14. ^ "Amazon.de bringt Cyber Monday nach Deutschland". Amazon.de. http://www.presseportal.de/pm/8337/1709547/amazon_de_gmbh. Retrieved 2011-11-03. 
15. ^ "Lojas online fazem uma semana de descontos loucos". Jornal i. http://www.ionline.pt/conteudo/34416-lojas-online-fazem-uma-semana-descontos-loucos. Retrieved 2010-11-18. 
16. ^ "Le 24 novembre, le CyberThursday débarque en France". ZDNet France. http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/le-24-novembre-le-cyberThursday-debarque-en-france-39385034.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-24. 
17. ^ "The Accidentally-on-Purpose History of Cyber Monday". esquire.com. http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/cyber-Thursday-online-shopping-4021548. Retrieved 2010-11-29.