Cyber Monday shopping on way to surpass Black Friday

World Today

Cyber Monday shopping on way to surpass Black Friday

The biggest shopping day of the year in America – Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving-has come and gone. But there’s certainly no need to panic if you’re still looking for deals. Cyber Monday is taking a big role in the holiday shopping season.

CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports the story.

Rene Mendoza bought a pair of half price jeans at a store on Black Friday, but is now checking out Cyber Monday deals online.

“I spent an hour to an hour and a half in line to pay. But just looking at this, it’s about the same price. I should have done this instead,” said Rene Mendoza, one Shopper.

In fact, data from analytics company Comscore shows that online shopping by desktop computer on Thanksgiving was up 17 percent from last year and on Black Friday – up 19 percent.

Although the National Retail Federation said overall spending per person for the Thanksgiving weekend was down about $10, that doesn’t take into account the fact that the holiday frenzy actually begins earlier and lasts longer.

“With 2016, we’ve continued to see the trend of starting sales earlier and earlier, Black Friday evolving into Black Friday week, Black Friday month. The same thing is happening with Cyber Monday evolving to Cyber Monday starting on Friday at certain vendors and even earlier. People get more and more mind-share,” Norman Fong, co-founder of BuyVia, said.

Due to the growth of online shopping, Fong believes this could be the first year that Cyber Monday sales surpass Black Friday’s.

And while data company Slice Intelligence said Amazon generated 36 percent of Cyber Monday’s sales last year, Fong said brick and mortar retailers are mounting a stiffer challenge.

Retailing giants like Walmart have taken notice estimating this year more than 90 percent of their Thanksgiving weekend online orders will be free-shipping deals.

Walmart said a strong online presence combined with a network of physical stores gives customers more options.

“What we see is kind of the interplay of customers who were looking at items online and then going to the store and making the physical purchase in store. Others order online for pre-pickup in the stores. The other thing that’s really interesting to see is this year, is that we’ve seen about a 25 percent increase in the number of customers that are using the app in the store to find out about products,” Steve Breen, the SVP of merchandising of Walmart said.

And rather than just Cyber Monday Walmart launched Cyber Week – keeping with the trend it’s no longer about one or two days but rather an entire shopping season that’s both offline and online.


Scott Schober on Cyber Monday

The Thanksgiving weekend shopping spree generally ends with Cyber Monday; how much money is spent online after Black Friday and how does it stack up to the previous shopping days? For more, CCTV America’s Michelle Makori spoke with Scott Schober, president and CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems, Inc.


Steve Breen discusses how Walmart’s online presence is expanding their product lines

Steve Breen, senior vice president of Merchandising at Walmart, discusses how Walmart’s online presence is expanding their product lines.

 


Norman Fong discusses the impact of free shipping on online purchases

Norman Fong, co-founder of BuyVia, an online shopping site that aggregates deals, discusses the impact of free shipping on online purchases.