A Brief History
On November 27, 2017, we celebrate Cyber Monday as we have on every Monday after Thanksgiving each year since 2005. This pseudo-holiday was dreamed up by Ellen Davis and Scott Silverman of the National Retail Federation as a way to encourage Christmas shoppers to make their purchases online instead of fighting the crowds at stores.
Digging Deeper
In 2005, it was noticed by 77% of online retailers that the Monday following Thanksgiving was a day in which online sales rose considerably. In order to take advantage of that trend, online retailers came up with Cyber Monday sales to encourage an online buying frenzy. Like “Black Friday” the day after Thanksgiving in regular stores, the specials and sales on Cyber Monday are calculated to bring in customers wanting to take advantage of great deals. Online sales on Cyber Monday have risen each year, to around $3.45 billion on this day alone in 2016, up from only $608 million on Cyber Monday of 2006. (I guess that proves the “holiday” idea works!)
Cyber Monday is an opportunity for smaller companies to sell retail goods that they cannot compete with the large retailers with their fantastic Black Friday sales. Generally speaking, the items on sale on Cyber Monday are not the big-ticket items found in stores on Black Friday. One area in which Cyber Monday excels is in the fashion/clothing business (including shoes), where Cyber Monday sales easily beat Black Friday receipts.
Cyber Monday is now an event pushed by online retailers across the world, and has its earliest origins in 2003 when Tony Valado, an employee of an online florist, came up with White Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving as a day for online shopping sprees.
As with all good intentions, even Cyber Monday has its drawbacks. Employers have become irate over employees using company time and company computers to do their Christmas shopping while at work. Over a fifth of employers have reported firing someone for shopping on line while at work, and over half of employers block at least some websites on Cyber Monday.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Are you planning on doing any Cyber Monday online shopping? If so, what are you planning on buying? Are you aware of any particularly good deals? Happy Hunting!
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Historical Evidence
For more information about simply the best gift to give a loved one this year, please see…
Markham, J. David and Matthew Zarzeczny. Simply Napoleon. Narrated by Jack Wynters. Simply Charly, 2017. Audible Audiobook.
Markham, J. David and Matthew Zarzeczny. Simply Napoleon (Great Lives Book 11). Simply Charly, 2017.
