Today is “Cyber Monday” the Internet enabled, 21st Century equivalent to the post-Thanksgiving, dirt-world doorbusting shopping spree known as “Black Friday”. The term black Friday, coined by retailers to describe the day after Thanksgiving, was so named because the deep discounts and sales they offered were supposed to draw enough consumers to the stores to enable retailers to recoup their investments into holiday inventory. This tsunami of Holiday season shopping was supposed to put the retailers’ balance sheets into “the black” or positive territory. With the rise of e-commerce, there is now a second wave of shopping that begins (unfortunately for employers) on the Monday after Thanksgiving when many return to the office to “work” (read: shop online on the company’s time). Online retailers put out their most attractive online sale prices of the year for Cyber Monday. But in this poor economic environment, are people buying? Are you? Follow me below the fold…
Early reports from dirt-world retailers seem to indicate that sales have been strong over this first weekend of Holiday 2009 which is a welcome respite from last year’s horrible sales season. Online retailers are holding their collective breath waiting to see if shoppers spend with the same fervor as they did in the brick and mortar stores on Black Friday.
I for one believe that the overall holiday sales volumes for retailers will be nearly as miserable as they were last year. To my way of thinking, it would seem that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will be especially well trafficked this year because people really NEED the deep discounts these sales offer if they are going to be able to buy any gifts at all. With real unemployment above 15%, I don’t think Americans have too much dough left to spend on non-essentials. Its just that we’re so conditioned to consume at the holidays, it is hard for people to break the holiday consumption habit. But I suspect as the next weeks march on, the volume of sales will wither to a trickle. Once the early, deepest discounted sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday have depleted the stores’ stocks of loss leaders and “doorbuster” prices, I imagine the regularly priced goods will not be moving at such an impressive pace. IMHO, this will lead to another brutally poor year for retailers. I know, we are spending far less this year as a family.
How about you? Are you planning to spend more than last year? Less than last year? About the same as last year? Or not at all? Sound off in the comments. Today is “Cyber Monday” the Internet enabled, 21st Century equivalent to the post-Thanksgiving, dirt-world doorbusting shopping spree known as “Black Friday”. The term black Friday, coined by retailers to describe the day after Thanksgiving, was so named because the deep discounts and sales they offered were supposed to draw enough consumers to the stores to enable retailers to recoup their investments into holiday inventory. This tsunami of Holiday season shopping was supposed to put the retailers’ balance sheets into “the black” or positive territory. With the rise of e-commerce, there is now a second wave of shopping that begins (unfortunately for employers) on the Monday after Thanksgiving when many return to the office to “work” (read: shop online on the company’s time). Online retailers put out their most attractive online sale prices of the year for Cyber Monday. But in this poor economic environment, are people buying? Are you? Follow me below the fold…
Early reports from dirt-world retailers seem to indicate that sales have been strong over this first weekend of Holiday 2009 which is a welcome respite from last year’s horrible sales season. Online retailers are holding their collective breath waiting to see if shoppers spend with the same fervor as they did in the brick and mortar stores on Black Friday.
I for one believe that the overall holiday sales volumes for retailers will be nearly as miserable as they were last year. To my way of thinking, it would seem that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will be especially well trafficked this year because people really NEED the deep discounts these sales offer if they are going to be able to buy any gifts at all. With real unemployment above 15%, I don’t think Americans have too much dough left to spend on non-essentials. Its just that we’re so conditioned to consume at the holidays, it is hard for people to break the holiday consumption habit. But I suspect as the next weeks march on, the volume of sales will wither to a trickle. Once the early, deepest discounted sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday have depleted the stores’ stocks of loss leaders and “doorbuster” prices, I imagine the regularly priced goods will not be moving at such an impressive pace. IMHO, this will lead to another brutally poor year for retailers. I know, we are spending far less this year as a family.
How about you? Are you planning to spend more than last year? Less than last year? About the same as last year? Or not at all? Sound off in the comments. 8 Responses to “Black Friday-Cyber Monday, Are You Spending?”
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I have been on this “green” trip for a few years now, and I try to buy as few new items as possible. I ask myself at least 3 times “do I REALLY need this?” before I buy something. That’s not just because I don’t want to spend the money, but also because I want to minimize the waste I produce. I am looking more and more into hand-crafted items for presents – but also for myself.
That is an excellent practice Dani and one that more people, especially in the developed world should adopt. Check out this link to Nat Geo’s website where the slide show depicts photos of what each single person consumes in their lifetime. It is really astounding to view it in this way. Shows just how much each of us contributes to the depletion of resources.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/human-footprint-3224/Overview#tab-Photos/0
I actually once spend the black Friday with my family in our home and we also treat that day as our gathering time.
To think that people have died getting trampled on their way into a sale on Black Friday! It has almost become a holiday of sorts, an homage to pure consumption – beserk when you reflect on it, no?
I probably actually spend more money in the long run, but I will not go shopping on Black Friday. I am not about to go out and fight with people for gifts. I think that that is ridiculous. I start my shopping early, and I bake cookies on Black Friday.
Just back from Garden State Plaza Mall – things do seem to be picking up. Are others feeling the same?
Last Minute Holiday Deals
Top retailers shopping site like Amazon, Overstock, and Sears.com say Dec. 17 is the last day they will guarantee delivery by Christmas using their free-shipping offers.
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Becky Worley shares tips on mailing gifts before free shipping deadlines end.
According to a survey by Web site freeshippping.info, 52 percent of the top 500 online retailers say they will end their free-shipping offers on or before Dec.18. After that many consumers will have to pay extra for expedited shipping to guarantee their gifts are delivered before Christmas.
The survey also found the minimum purchase necessary to qualify for free shipping was $52, although free-shipping codes can be found online at sites like freeshipping.org and coupons sites and deals site like savings.com, retailmenot.com, and deals.yahoo.com.
If you are mailing packages yourself, here are the most important looming deadlines:
The UPS ground deadline was officially Dec. 16, but using the delivery estimation application on the UPS site, most domestic deliveries shipped by the Dec. 17 will still make it in time for Christmas Day, Dec. 25.
Just back from Woodbury Mall – things do seem to be picking up. Are others feeling the same?