It’s been six years since the very first Cyber Monday was launched to compete with the popular offline sales event called Black Friday, but my has the event grown.
According to sales data for last year’s event, over $1 billion in purchases were recorded. This makes Cyber Monday 2010, the biggest, most profitable event so far. This year may be even better; early indications for online sales this year are that people are still willing to spend big despite a struggling economy (heck, that’s what a struggling economy needs anyway). This past thanksgiving saw a massive surge on spending over the current period of 2010 and this upcoming Cyber Monday could very well benefit from this.Of course, there are strong supporting data to back up this prospect of a record smashing Cyber Monday 2011. For starters, only 72% on online merchants offered Cyber Monday promotions in 2007. Compare that figure to the whopping 88% who offered promotions in 2010 and you can see that the trajectory for growth in 2011 is big—really big.
Perhaps the only downside though, is that people don’t have endless wallets, and as the sales pile up, people may simply run out of steam. We mustn’t forget too that Cyber Monday is way before Christmas and despite the deals on offer now, most people still like to get those gifts closer to the Christmas. Whatever happens though, this year will promises to be big for Cyber Monday.
Are you planning on doing some more spending come Cyber Monday? Share your spending plans with us in the comments below.