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2006 Cyber Monday Produced Record Sales

The traffic associated with this increase in online spending is keeping the web hosting industry very busy.

Cyber Monday lived up to the hype, giving online storeowners 608 million reasons to rock around the Christmas tree. Online consumer spending reached $608 million, the first day in ecommerce history to break the $600 million threshold. The day arrived to heavy fanfare as millions of eager shoppers descended upon e-tailers in search of bargains. So even though it is not expected to be the top 2006 online buying day in terms of money spent, this year’s Cyber Monday saw the highest online sales in retail ecommerce history.

While it was certainly an historic achievement, the online shopping season is actually just beginning to kick into high gear,” noted Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks. Having analyzed and reported on online sales for more than five years, we fully expect several days in the coming weeks to eclipse the spending on Cyber Monday.

The online retail marketplace has become extremely competitive and we’re seeing that play out with some pretty significant discounting to win over consumers early in the holiday shopping season, much of which was advertised at CypberMonday.com.

Consumers are increasingly using their online resources to drive their offline shopping as well. On black Friday, when many consumers were drawing up their plans for finding in-store bargains, it appears that the savviest among them had already used the internet to price items for purchase at stores offline. This trend is expected to continue. At the same time, traditional retailers have become savvy at integrating their online shopping sites to cater to customers and that’s helping drive online sales. Best Buy, for example, offers online ordering and in-store pickup.

During the first 27 days of November, total online retail spending reached 9.48 billion, or a 26 percent increase over the same period last year. Overall holiday online shopping is expected to increase 24 percent to 24.3 billion. November is an important month for retailers’ fourth quarters since November and December together typically account for as much as 50 percent of their annual profits and sales.

The traffic associated with this increase in online spending is keeping the web hosting industry very busy. Web hosts are working around the clock to make sure the e-stores they support stay up and running and in a constant state of readiness for eager online shoppers. Without superior web hosting accompanied by careful planning, a heavy traffic day such as Cyber Monday can quickly turn from a dream to a nightmare.  With millions of dollars at stake, you can’t afford to be complacent about your online store. Only the strong survive in this competitive holiday shopping environment.

“While traditional retailers used Black Friday promotions to pack the stores on Thanksgiving Weekend, online retailers used Cyber Monday to debut holiday merchandise and offer virtual door-busters,” said Shop.org executive director Scott Silverman.

Shopping On Company Time

According to comScore Networks, 58 percent of Americans who shop online make their holiday purchases from work, primarily at lunchtime or during breaks. People like to shop from work because they don’t have to watch out for snooping family members looking over their shoulder and they can have their gifts sent to work rather then risking them being left on the front porch,” said Andrew Lipsman, a spokesman for comScore.

Online shopping at work, whether it is during the holidays or other times of year, isn’t considered a big deal by most employers as long as employees don’t lose productivity or abuse their internet privileges. But companies are quick to point out that doesn’t mean that employees have the green light to shop anytime they please.

A reasonable amount of personal use of the internet is permissible as long as it doesn’t interfere with their work and doesn’t compromise our information security policy,” said Mark Wright, a spokesman for Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. It is up to the supervisors’ discretion about what conforms and doesn’t conform to our policy regarding internet use.

Employers say it only becomes a factor if employees let it affect their work, especially for those companies who measure the timing as well as the effectiveness of their workers. That’s why most employers make their decisions about online shopping on a case by case basis.

Online shopping represents another “blurring of the lines between work and home” for employers and employees. Most companies realize that employees often have to work from home and on the road, so being permitted limited internet use at work is considered a trade off and a perk.

The good news for e-tailers is that regardless of where they are making their online purchases, shoppers are making them in unprecedented numbers. Make sure your site is prepared for heavy traffic around the clock so that you can maximize sales potential even when nestled all snug in your bed, while visions of customers dance in your head.