Online shoppers spent record amounts on the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, making it the biggest online shopping day in history. Online sales rose 22% to $1.25 billion on “Cyber Monday,” according to research firm comScore Inc. That makes it the biggest online shopping day ever, the firm says. A year ago, “Cyber Monday” sales topped $1 billion for the first time. IBM Benchmark, another company tracking online sales, reported a 33% rise. The average order rose 2.6% to $193.24 this year, according to IBM Benchmark. The company says about 80% of retailers offered online deals. The Cyber Monday numbers point to Americans’ growing comfort with using their personal computers, tablets and smartphones to shop. About 6.6% of online shoppers used a mobile device to shop, up from 2.3% last year. Web traffic rose 28% on Monday, according to online content delivery firm Akamai. The peak time for online shopping Monday was at 8 p.m. The term “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005 by The National Retail Federation to encourage Americans to shop online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It is not always the busiest online shopping day, but in recent years sales on the day have increased as retailers offer more deals specifically for Cyber Monday.
Today’s poll question: Roughly what percentage of all your holiday shopping will be done online this year?
