Showing posts with label Monday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday. Show all posts

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

US 'sees biggest Cyber Monday'

27 November 2012 Last updated at 03:04 GMT Workers pack a lorry at the Amazon.com plant in Phoenix, Arizona, on 26 November 2012 Workers pack a lorry on Monday at Amazon.com's huge plant in Phoenix, Arizona The US is projected to have had its biggest ever online shopping day, according to analysts.

Research firm Comscore said consumers would have spent $1.5bn (£0.9bn) on so-called Cyber Monday, up 20% from last year.

Online-sales tracker IBM Benchmark put the internet shopping rise even higher - up nearly 27% compared with the Monday after Thanksgiving last year.

Smartphone and tablet computer sales rose 10.2%, said IBM Benchmark.

"Online's piece of the holiday pie is growing every day, and all the key dates are growing with it," Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru told Associated Press news agency.

"The web is becoming a more significant part of the traditional brick-and-mortar holiday shopping season."

Online sales also jumped sharply on so-called Black Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving.

Comscore said internet shopping rose by a quarter last Friday to break the $1bn mark for the first time, while it was up by a third on Thanksgiving itself.

There was also a jump in consumer spending this Thanksgiving weekend compared with last year, retailers say.

A record 247 million people visited stores and websites between Thursday and Sunday, spending a total of $59.1bn, 13% more than last year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) said.

The average shopper spent $423 over the weekend, up from $398 last year.

Despite the jump in sales over the weekend, there are concerns that the rise in spending over the festive period as a whole will be weaker this year.

The NRF has forecast a 4.1% increase in retail sales during November and December, less than the 5.6% jump recorded last year.


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Cyber Monday sales reach new record

Cyber Monday shoppers are flocking to their computers and smartphones to take advantage of discounts at their favorite retailers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Retailers raked in record sales on Cyber Monday, as shoppers flocked to their computers and smartphones to grab online deals.

Online sales soared 30% higher from Cyber Monday last year, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, which tracks more than one million e-commerce transactions per day from more than 500 retailers.

"Cyber Monday was not only the pinnacle of the Thanksgiving shopping weekend but when the cash register closed it officially became the biggest online shopping day ever," said Jay Henderson, strategy director at IBM Smarter Commerce.

The 30% increase eclipses both the 21% jump in online sales seen on Black Friday and the 17% increase on Thanksgiving day. It's also bigger than projections from data tracking firm ComScore, which put sales at $1.5 billion for Cyber Monday -- a 20% increase from the same day last year.

Related: Black Friday: Crowds grow, but sales are a question

A growing number of people used their mobile devices to make purchases this year. About 18% of shoppers checked out deals on their mobile devices on Monday, and 13% made purchases by phone or tablet -- up from 12% and 7%, respectively, last year.

And while many retailers typically wait until the Monday following Black Friday to offer online-only deals, many began rolling out their online discounts on Thanksgiving or earlier this year.

Related: 7 apps to find holiday deals

Online shopping traffic peaked at 11:25 a.m. ET on Monday, and department stores, health and beauty retailers, home goods sellers and apparel stores experienced the most sales growth, IBM found.

The individual retailers that were most-frequently searched for by users on Cyber Monday included Walmart (WMT, Fortune 500), Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500), Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) and Target (TGT, Fortune 500). The products that were searched for the most were Amazon's Kindle and Kindle Fire, Uggs, iPads, the iPod Touch, Legos and the Wii, according to Experian Marketing Services.

This holiday season, online sales have widely outpaced in-store sales. Even on Black Friday, which is traditionally known for its in-store deals, online sales posted double-digit growth while retail sales at stores declined nearly 2%, according to ShopperTrak. To top of page

First Published: November 27, 2012: 11:39 AM ET

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