And just like that, the holidays are over. All that preparation and stress, all the running around and late nights trying make everything in your online store perfect only for it to simply vanish in the blink of an eye. It happens every year but it always catches me off guard!
Now, it’s time for another tradition – the breakdown of all the data collected from sales. Specifically, we’re looking at Cyber Monday and how well it did compared to past years and the other sales holidays.
Also, in doing further research for this blog, I noticed Target has already started preparing for Cyber Monday 2013. If there’s any doubt this sales day is a big deal, that should squash it!
Record Sales
Unsurprisingly, Cyber Monday sales were better than ever this year. In fact, Cyber Monday had a bigger jump than Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Thanksgiving at an astounding 30% increase. Black Friday had online sales increase by 21%, showing more customers than ever are skipping lines and logging on for deals instead.
The increase was also 10% more than projected. Data tracking firm ComScore was projecting Cyber Monday sales at $1.5 billion rather than the $1.98 billion it achieved. That’s not entirely surprising either, though, as Cyber Monday has constantly been derided since it started, despite trends to the contrary. Some were even (hilariously) calling for its demise this year.
These numbers mean this Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in history. At a time when the economy was thought to be a big bane to shopping, the massive numbers were a welcome sign to the contrary.
Figuring Out Why
So why the big jump in sales numbers? Of course every year there’s a simple matter of simple exposure – everyone knows about Black Friday, as it’s been around for years. Cyber Monday, though, has had to build up steam since its official naming in 2005. The same for Small Business Saturday: while many shop in local businesses during the holidays, they may not realize there’s a specific day they should go for the best deals.
One of the biggest reasons why Cyber Monday is working so well has to be because of the way the world works now. Electronic shopping is rapidly becoming the norm rather than the exception. Sure, physical Black Friday sales were still way above Cyber Monday sales – but ecommerce is here to stay, and as brick & mortar shops close electronic ones pop up all over the place.
Another big contributor to online sales is the pure accessibility of the shops. No matter where shoppers are, they have the ability to grab an item they see for a present with a few touches of their phone or tablet. There’s no need to run back to the office or your home computer to order something online, giving you ample time to forget what you were going to buy.
What does this mean for the future? Look for 2013 to include more of 2012’s success as ecommerce heats up more than ever. Tables sales skyrocketed in 2012 with no signs of slowing down this year, meaning more people than ever will have instant access to their favorite stores…including yours! Like Target, now is the time to get started on your strategy for what could be the biggest day of your shop’s life.