Cyber Monday 2011 Expectations
It is not enough that we run over people, cause injuries, and get violent on black Friday, we also have to have cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is a huge day for sales on the internet with sites like Amazon, Best Buy, and many other electronic stores getting involved. Even some Airlines are having Cyber Monday sales if you need to fly before Christmas.
This year cyber Monday is expected to break records for sales from previous years, which comes as no shock whatsoever. Every single year black Friday breaks sales records because stores open their doors a few days earlier and cyber Monday is much of the same. If this continues, you can expect to see family members dining and dashing out the doors on Thanksgiving Day to get in line for black Friday.
With cyber Monday it is a bit different because you can shop right at home from your computer. However, many people skip work or take a half day just to catch the best of the online deals. This is starting to take over our world and it is causing quite a bit of a stir online and offline.
Some of the Hottest Cyber Monday Items
Even though electronics are always the hottest items for black Friday and cyber Monday, the toymakers have gotten into the act as well. Even some home improvement stores have seen large sales numbers for both black Friday and cyber Monday. It is a bit ridiculous how much money is spent on these very hyped up shopping days of the year.
Some people will spend an entire day camping out in front of a Best Buy store just to save a little money on a new television or gaming system. It is much the same with cyber Monday as some will stay up until the moment the site releases the sales they are having just to be the first one to get whatever item it is they are after.
Out comes the credit card, in go the numbers, and up go the payments after Christmas is all over with. It is estimated that black Friday sales reached a record high of $52.4 billion dollars over the four day period starting on Thanksgiving. Many believe cyber Monday will top out around $1.2 billion dollars in sales, which is up $0.2 billion from last year.
Some sites like Amazon are trying to turn cyber Monday into a full weeklong event by feeding consumers’ deals every single day of the week. They are not the only ones as stores like Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, and Overstock.com are offering huge discounts throughout the entire week after Thanksgiving.
Experts estimate that over half of the cyber Monday purchases made last year were done from a work computer. This means that companies are getting less productivity out of their paid employees while they are on their computers shopping. The one good thing about cyber Monday is you are not going to get trampled or end up in a fistfight over the present you are going to buy for your child this year.
Have Retailers Taken it Too Far with Cyber Monday and Black Friday?
Can you remember the time when it was hard to even find a gas station open on a Sunday let alone on any day of Thanksgiving weekend? There was a time when shopping the day after Thanksgiving was not a crazy tradition of getting to the store before the sun has even thought about coming up and waiting in line for hours until the store opened.
Now, if you want to get that so-called great deal you better get there first and if you are not first, don’t worry, you can just run over the five people ahead of you. Violence has been a result of black Friday, which is a problem. Black Friday used to start the morning of the Friday after Thanksgiving, but this year stores opened at 10pm on Thanksgiving. This is getting a bit out of hand, don’t you think?
Cyber Monday, on the other hand is another shopping day made up by some retail giant to convince the consumer to spend more money. It is not as bad as black Friday because nobody gets trampled or into a fight over some toy or electronic they just have to have. However, it does cause people to slack off at work and get sucked into the shopping craze just like the retailers want.
Do we really have to have an item so bad that we will fight another human being for it? Sure technology is great, but what are we really willing to do to get it at a discounted price? Black Friday has become a problem and the news stories are all over the place the day after about all the violence. Cyber Monday, however, may just be the answer.
Tags: biggest shopping days, black friday, cyber monday, online cyber monday, online monday shopping, sales records, thanksgiving shopping