Great News for Online Sellers!

Great news for online sellers!

Online shopping is more popular than ever! According to InternetNews.com, 2010's ‘Cyber Monday' may hit a record-breaking high! The Associated Press have reported that Cyber Monday traffic is up this year, giving us online sellers something to smile about, and a bit of hope as we enter what will be the busiest month of the year for your business.

What is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday was coined in 2005 by the U.S National Retail Federation after it was noticed that many ecommerce site's sales were increasing by up to 70% on the Monday immediately following Black Friday and the Thanksgiving holiday. This was confirmed by ComScore, an ecommerce tracking web site, who observed a huge increase in online sales on this day over the past few years.

Some say the trend was artificially manufactured by giant retail sites pushing the idea that the Monday following Thanksgiving was a great time to buy, and that many great deals were available on the day. Some say it is because people have spent the long weekend relaxing by the fire, eating pumpkin pie and leftover turkey, and are still feeling lazy on their first day back to work, so they hit the shops rather than their to-do lists.

Why this year's Cyber Monday has been so popular

One can only speculate, but I suspect that while plenty of people are buying online, they are doing some serious bargain hunting, and that means shopping online. Yes, our economic forecast is looking brighter, but we are far from out of the woods yet, with the American unemployment rate still at a tragic 9.5%. However it seems that even in times of hardship, people still want to treat their families and friends at Christmas.

On the contrary, maybe it's not that at all. Perhaps consumers are fed up with all the penny pinching they have been doing this year, and are letting themselves splurge this Christmas!

Could this be a sign of a busy December and Holiday season for us? Only time will tell. How did your Cyber Monday go?