Online retailers Monday take their turn in offering
doorbuster (or serverbuster, as the online moniker goes) deals as shoppers used
spare time and high-speed internet access to look for bargains.
Online stores dished out discounts as high as 75% as well as
free shipping. The National Retail Federation introduced Cyber Monday three
years ago as an online counterpart to the brick-and-mortar “Black Friday”
shopping holiday inauguration
Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday saw a 2% increase in
online spending, says Reston, Va. online research company ComScore. Prior to
that, November online dropped 4% compared to 2007, down to $10.4 billion.
ComScore’s sales prediction of $29.2 billion for the holidays would be the
first flat sales since e-commerce became popular eight years ago. Compare that
with a 19% increase last year over the year before.
Nielsen Online was more optimistic, showing Web shopping
either from home or work to improve by 10% on Black Friday, to 31.7 million
unique visitors from last year.
The most visited shopping sites according to Nielsen were eBay,
Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Dell, Sears, Kohl's and
JCPenney.
Shoppers were for the most part bargain hunting for
electronics, toys and video games, home-and-garden articles, as well as IT
products, specifies the Nielsen Online report.
''Many people who didn't want to fight the crowds or get up
early to stand in line over the weekend have been waiting for Cyber Monday to
start their holiday shopping,'' said Scott Silverman, executive director of
Shop.org, the National Retail Federation's online arm.
Employers were expected to actually lose some $3,000 in productivity
per employee due to online holiday shopping, says a survey by nonprofit IT
professional association ISACA.
The world of IT is also worried that employers may have
inadequate security software to help stop computer viruses or other malware and
malicious attacks caused by the flurry of online shopping.
''Today's volatile economy is driving people to work long
hours, which puts increased pressure on employees' work-life balance,'' said
John Pironti of ISACA's Education Board. The group suggested companies train
employees on how to shop safely online while keeping the practice in check.
Despite these methods, as well as other such as 2-for-1
specials and additional discounts, the attempt by retailers to influence the sales
this holiday season, the forecast seems bleak, as the latest figures show that
this season’s forecast is ultimately one of the worst in at least a decade. It
will remain to be seen if Black Friday’s and Cyber Monday’s combined sales
manage to offset these gloomy predictions, although retail experts remain unconvinced.
"For the first time there is a major slowdown in online
sales," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates
Inc., a Manhattan-based retail consulting and investment banking firm.
"That's the story. A day will not make any difference, just like Black
Friday."