Cyber Monday shows strong sales, but the best is yet to come, retailers say
Online retailers reported strong year-over-year growth in Cyber Monday sales, though high volumes for many kicked off before Thanksgiving and are expected to last well into December.
"Cyber Monday is considered the kickoff of the holiday online shopping season, though we are anticipating the peak to occur Dec. 11,” says Julie Mahloch, vice president of Store Management for NetShops, No. 120 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites. “We expect to achieve over $1.5 million in sales on that day."
Mahloch notes NetShops shipped 6,500 orders on Cyber Monday, and that it expects to ship 8,500 orders on Dec. 11 from its three warehouses in Nebraska, Minnesota and Tennessee.
Jon Nordmark, CEO of eBags Inc., also expects his best sales day on or close to Dec. 11. “Cyber Monday was a success,” he says, noting that compared to a year ago sales were up 26.2% at eBags.com, 56.8% at 6pm.com and 39.2% at eBags.co.uk. “Sales typically mount through the beginning of December, culminating in our biggest day of the year, which occurs around December 11th.”
As reported yesterday on InternetRetailer.com, online sales grew 23% year-over-year through the first 24 days of this month, and surged 42% year-over-year to $434 million on Black Friday, or Nov. 24, according to comScore Networks Inc. Industry figures on Cyber Monday traffic and sales are expected to be released later today by comScore and other research firms.
Several individual retail sites and aggregator sites, however, revealed sharp increases for both Cyber Monday and the extended holiday shopping season so far.
Cyber Monday sales at wireless retailer LetsTalk.com increased 137% over 2005, says Delly Tamer, CEO. However, Thanksgiving Day sales showed an even larger year-over-year boost—145%, he says, adding that it “looks like people were sneaking out from turkey dinner to go online to buy.”
Tamer says he expects the site to experience a surge in daily sales volume that will exceed Cyber Monday’s around Dec. 12 similar to the spike that occurred last Dec. 13.
Cyber Monday visits to Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Shopping rose 63% year-over-year, producing twice the number of visits on this year’s Black Friday, MSN Shopping says. The site presents more than 30 million products from more than 8,000 retailers.
"Cyber Monday was our strongest day in 2006 to date and we`re excited to see how the holiday shopping season progresses," says Josh Silverman, general manager of Shopping.com, a shopping comparison site owned by eBay Inc. that offers 60 million products from more than 8,000 merchants.
The high volumes of traffic and sales, however, have coincided with aggressive promotions among competing retailers, Silverman says. "There`s more competition among online merchants than ever, as many of them are rolling out more incentives and discounts this year,” he says. “In fact, according to our research, 20 of the top 50 merchants ranked by Internet Retailer are offering shoppers free shipping this holiday."
Barnes & Noble.com launched special promotions on Cyber Monday including a free travel bag with a $75 purchase, 50% off certain DVDs, and a two-for-one offer on special-collection books.
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