Cyber Monday shopping ramps up
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
By Aaron Smith, staff writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Online shoppers are expected to turn out in force Monday -- the day after a strong holiday shopping weekend -- with a 10% increase over last year, according to a retail group.
Some 106.9 million Americans plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, compared to 96.5 million last year, the National Retail Foundation (NRF) said. And most will be doing so from work. The NRF said about 70 million Americans will shop from their jobs this year.
Cyber Monday is one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. It follows the Black Friday weekend, from Thanksgiving through Sunday, which experienced a significant increase in activity this year.
The NRF reported 212 million shoppers went to stores and websites over the weekend, up from 195 million shoppers during the same period last year. The average shopper spent $365.34 during Black Friday weekend 2010, compared to $343.31 during the same weekend last year, the NRF said. Total spending for the weekend was $45 billion.
The recent increase in online shopping was significant. The NRF reported that 33.6% of shoppers this past weekend were online -- an increase from last year, when 28.5% of the shoppers were online.
Black Friday is considered one of the biggest shopping days of the year, with millions of shoppers flooding stores such as Toys R Us and Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), lured by promotional discounts.
Other researchers also reported a surge in online holiday shopping. comScore, a digital marketplace research firm, said that online sales totaled $648 million on Black Friday -- a 9% jump from last year. That makes Black Friday the heaviest day of online spending so far in 2010, according to the report.
Amazon was the most popular shopping site on Black Friday, experiencing a 25% boost in traffic, according to comScore. Other leading sites included Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500).
Online shopping allows shoppers to avoid the madhouse atmosphere of crowds scrambling for doorbusters. Deals can be found online, as well as in stores, according to the NRF. The retail group reported that 88% of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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