NEW YORK — Bye-bye Black Friday. So long Small Business Saturday. Now, it’s Cyber Monday’s turn.
Cyber Monday, coined in 2005 by a shopping trade group that noticed online sales spiked on the Monday following Thanksgiving, is the next in a series of days that stores are counting on to jumpstart the holiday shopping season.
It’s estimated that this year’s Cyber Monday will be the biggest online shopping day of the year for the third year in a row.
According to research firm comScore, Americans are expected to spend $1.5 billion, up 20 percent from last year on Cyber Monday, as retailers have ramped up their deals to get shoppers to click on their websites.
Amazon.com, which is starting its Cyber Monday deals at midnight on Monday, is offering as much as 60 percent off a Panasonic VIERA 55-inch TV that’s usually priced higher than $1,000. Sears is offering $430 off a Maytag washer and dryer, each on sale for $399. And Kmart is offering 75 percent off all of its diamond earrings and $60 off a 12-in-1 multigame table on sale for $89.99.
Retailers are hoping the deals will appeal to shoppers like Matt Sexton, 39, who for the first time plans to complete all of his holiday shopping online this year on his iPad tablet computer. Sexton, who plans to spend up to $4,000 this season, already shopped online on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday and found a laptop from Best Buy for $399, a $200 savings, among other deals.
“The descriptions and reviews are so much better online so you can compare and price shop and for the most part get free shipping,” said Sexton, who lives in Queens, N.Y., and is a manager at a utility company.
Sexton also said that it’s easier to return an online purchase to a physical store than it had been in previous years. “That helps with gifts,” he said.
How well retailers fare on Cyber Monday will offer insight into Americans’ evolving shopping habits during the holiday shopping season, a time when stores can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue.
With the growth in high speed Internet access and the wide use of smartphones and tablets, people are relying less on their work computers to shop than they did when Shop.org, the digital division of trade group The National Retail Federation, introduced the term “Cyber Monday.”
Latest news
Cyber Monday likely a busy day
- Latest news
-
-
County plans to regulate piercings and change rules for tattoo parlors
While Allegany County regulates tattoos, it does not currently regulate body piercings, but the county health department is planning to change that situation soon.
Legitimate tattoo and piercing shops are cooperating in the update, county health officials have said. -
Residents adopt American chestnut trees
Cradling her small American chestnut tree as if it were a newborn baby, Nancy Bean was ready Saturday afternoon to return to her Backbone Mountain home where she would grab a shovel and plant a part of the country’s heritage.
-
I-68 downtown ramp to reopen Monday
The exit 43C ramp from eastbound Interstate 68 to downtown Cumberland will remain closed through Monday morning to allow crews to repair the concrete driving surface.
-
Mineral deputy, K-9 partner named top team in W.Va.
Mineral County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Smith and K-9 Kira were awarded West Virginia K-9 Team of the Year by the West Virginia Police Canine Association earlier this month.
-
Organizers hope canoe championships put Garrett County on map
Deep Creek 2014: International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships is the largest inbound sporting event scheduled in the United States in 2014, according to Todd Copley, executive director of Deep Creek 2014.
-
Organizers hope canoe championships put Garrett County on map
Deep Creek 2014: International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships is the largest inbound sporting event scheduled in the United States in 2014, according to Todd Copley, executive director of Deep Creek 2014.
-
PSC approves Keyser sewer rate hike, customers due refund
The West Virginia Public Service Commission has approved a sewer rate increase for Keyser for all service after June 24 and a refund of 1.01 percent of the money collected from each customer under the interim rates.
-
County to request project funding through Appalachian Regional Commission
The beginning stages of a pilot training program through Frostburg State University, a water line replacement at the fairgrounds and work on an access road to the Frostburg Business Park are among the projects Allegany County plans to submit to the Appalachian Regional Commission for funding.
-
Former Piedmont police chief says actions not illegal or deceitful
Ralph Rice, former chief of Piedmont Police, doesn’t understand why the council made an issue out of his delay in returning the 911 center radio and the three packages of police equipment.
-
Skydiving business operating at aiport
The Greater Cumberland Regional Airport may see a skydiving outfit and a substation of the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department on the grounds in the future. On Thursday, Potomac Highlands Airport Authority members voted unanimously to enter into a commercial agreement with SkyDive Deep Creek to offer skydiving, pending an insurance review.
- More Latest news Headlines
-
County plans to regulate piercings and change rules for tattoo parlors
