Cyber Monday Spending Jumps 15 Percent

Shoppers flock to Internet in search of bargains

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 3, 2008

• Wal-Mart Fined $7,000 for "Black Friday" Employee Death • Online Holiday Sales Dip • Christmas Sales Forecast Gets More Grim • Black Friday Victim's Family Sues Wal-Mart • Giving Without Shopping: Make It a Priceless Holiday • Cyber Monday Spending Jumps 15 Percent • More Evidence Consumers Plan to Reduce Holiday Spending • Retailers' "Desperation" to Mark Black Friday • 'Tis The Season For Stress & Depression • CPSC Offers Toy Safety Tips for Holiday Shopping • Consumers Playing Rebate Roulette This Holiday Season • Beware of Zero Percent Financing • Survey Finds Consumers Wary about Holiday Returns • NYC Fines Retailers for Return & Restocking Fee Violations • Retailers Urged to Curb Violent Video Games • Smart, Careful Shopping Will Help Keep the Season Bright • Video Game Industry Gets a D+ • Negative Option Scams May Snag Online Holiday Shoppers • Retailers' Return Policies Getting Tougher • Safety, Shopping, Charitable Giving Tips • Consumer Reports Holiday Guide • The Gift That Keeps On Taking • Best of All: Giving Without Shopping

Drawn by sharp discounts, consumers hit the Internet in near record numbers Monday, as online merchants logged $846 million in online spending, an increase of 15 percent over 2007's Cyber Monday sales.

But as in the case of Black Friday, when brick-and-mortar merchants scored a three percent increase, shoppers were mostly drawn by one-day bargains. For the holiday season-to-date, $12.03 billion has been spent online, marking a 2 percent decline versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore, a compiler of online data.

The four-day period from Black Friday through Cyber Monday saw e-commerce spending jump 13 percent as both weekend days and Monday all achieved double-digit gains.

"Mark Twain might have said, 'Rumors of the death of online holiday shopping have been greatly exaggerated,'" said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Consumers are clearly responding positively to retailers' aggressive online discounts. This is an extremely encouraging development for retailers and we can but hope that their aggressive discounting has still left room for profits."

Less foot traffic

The most recent comScore holiday retail survey, conducted from November 28-December 1, revealed that some additional insights into consumers view of the 2008 holiday shopping season.

Some of the key survey findings include:

• Fifty-one percent of consumers indicated that the level of promotions and discounts is higher this year than last year, while only 12 percent said that there appeared to be fewer, suggesting that retailers are having to be more aggressive in discounting to spur consumer spending.

• Thirty-nine percent of consumers said that there seemed to be fewer people out shopping in retail stores this year than last year, while only 7 percent thought there were more.

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