Sales surge for Cyber Monday
By LAURA PETRECCA
USA Today
Cyber Monday looks like it lived up to its hype.
Sales and traffic indications were positive for the post-Thanksgiving Monday. Online traffic yesterday afternoon tracked more than 30 percent higher than an average Monday, based on results from sites monitored by Akamai Technologies. Akamai, which delivers Web content for more than 200 e-commerce sites, said the peak came from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Eastern time, when 1.8 million users per minute visited the sites it tracks.
It appears consumers meant it when one in four said in a poll conducted Friday and Saturday by the National Retail Federation's online unit, Shop.org, and BIGresearch that they'd shop online Monday — many from work.
The day has been nicknamed by online retailers hoping to build a holiday sales kickoff day to rival the Friday after Thanksgiving frenzy at brick-and-mortar stores. Last year, online shoppers shelled out $386 million on the day, according to Internet tracking firm ComScore Networks. More than 40 percent of sites planned special discounts and promotions for the day this year, according to a survey from Shop.org and BizRate Research.
Shopping sites are "trying to capitalize on the whole Cyber Monday concept," says Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings.
Among major retailers reporting traffic surges for the day:
A full tally of yesterday's traffic and sales won't be out until today. But Nielsen/NetRatings' Holiday eShopping Index showed Friday traffic to online retailers up 29 percent from last year, and ComScore Networks reported a 22 percent increase in spending.
"Thanksgiving weekend spending figures suggest that predictions of another strong online holiday season are on track," says Jeffrey Grau, analyst at Web research firm eMarketer.
With the strong start, Grau says, he might have to revise upward his earlier online sales predictions for the holiday season — which he originally pegged at $19.4 billion, a 22 percent increase over last year.
