Retailers are rolling out online deals on so-called “Cyber Monday.” But now that shoppers are online all the time anyway, the 10-year-old shopping holiday is losing some of its luster, The Associated Press reports.
Still, today is expected to be the biggest online shopping day ever, with estimates that it will rack up over $3 billion in sales.
“It’s no longer about one day, but a season of digital deals,” says Matthew Shay, president of retail trade group The National Retail Federation.
Online shopping is taking its toll on brick-and-mortar shopping. Frenzied crowds seemed to be a thing of the past on Black Friday—the busy shopping day after Thanksgiving—and sales fell to $10.4 billion this year, down from $11.6 billion in 2014, according to preliminary figures from research firm ShopperTrak.
But as online shopping grows more popular on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, that’s causing less of a frenzy on Cyber Monday, too.
“Consumers are recognizing the Internet is the place to go for a deal any time, any day,” says Gene Alvarez, managing vice president of research firm Gartner.
Retailers have been touting online deals since the beginning of November. And they no longer wait for today to roll out Cyber Monday deals, either. Amazon started “Lighting Deals” on Saturday and Wal-Mart beginning all of its Cyber offers on 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Research firm Comscore expects online sales to rise 14% to $70.06 billion during the November and December shopping period, slowing slightly from last year’s 15% rise. Online sales make up 10% of overall retail sales, but that increases to 15% during the holidays as online shoppers snap up Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, according to research firm Forrester.
