Online Shoppers Make Record Cyber Monday

The Thanksgiving retail buzz might center around “Black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving when traditional retailers tend to throw out all the stops to get holiday shoppers in their doors…and finally convert their bottom lines from the red to the black. But so-called “Cyber Monday”—the first “work day” of the week after Thanksgiving—has taken on new significance as shoppers go online to pick up deals they missed in stores. Or, in some cases, perhaps decided to avoid altogether.

According to market research firm comScore, online shoppers did not disappoint this year, spending a record-setting $733 million online this past Monday. The number represents a 21 percent inrease compared to Cyber Monday last year, and a 38 percent increase in the sheer number of Cyber Monday online buyers—but comScore feels the holiday season’s biggest online shopping days may be yet to come.

“Cyber Monday is an important day during the online holiday shopping season, representing the first significant spike in online holiday spending activity,” said comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni, in a statement. “We expect that a number of individual shopping days during the coming weeks will surpass the Cyber Monday total, with some days potentially surpassing $800 million.”

According to comScore, some 44 percent of all Internet users shopped online on Cyber Monday, visiting a retail site or using a price comparison tool, and 6 percent of Internet users that day actually made an online purchase. comScore also believes that 60 percent of the money spent on Cyber Monday was spent from work computers, with the remainder coming from computers in homes and educational institutions.

Astute readers may notice that while Cyber Monday spending was up 21 percent, the number of online buyers was up 38 percent compared to 2006, meaning the size of the average online Cyber Monday purchase was lower in 2007 than in 2006. comScore attributes the decline in average spending to two main factors: deeper discounts offered by online retailers, and a tendency for new Cyber Monday shoppers to be more conservative with their spending.