Merchants piling on deals for Cyber Monday
A day of deeply discounted deals was once confined to the Friday following Thanksgiving, but retailers are now creeping into Thanksgiving Day and the Monday following the feast.
Soon, sales will prevail throughout the holiday season.
Shop.org in 2005 declared the Monday after Thanksgiving Cyber Monday, a day of deals for shoppers browsing the World Wide Web at work. The website, a subsidiary of the National Retail Federation, surveyed online retailers this year and found eight in 10 shops plan to offer promotions on Cyber Monday.
Last year's Cyber Monday was the first time the shopping holiday surpassed $1 billion in revenue, according to Web tracking firm comScore. Andrew Lipsman, an analyst for the firm, predicts Cyber Monday revenues will reach $1.2 billion this year, with a total holiday online spending total in 2011 to increase 15 percent over last year.
The prevalence of online deals is good news for consumers, but Retail Association of Nevada spokesman Bryan Wachter said online shopping could divert dollars from brick-and-mortar stores operators who pay sales tax, where e-retailers do not. The retail trade group is behind a push to collect online sales taxes.
Wachter said Cyber Monday is just another avenue for holiday shoppers, and does not necessarily create a new revenue stream for retailers.
"Cyber Monday is an extension of holiday shopping in general," Wachter said. "There are certain customers that prefer online shopping (to) brick-and-mortar, but you could also say the opposite."
For online-only retailers like Las Vegas' own Zappos.com, Cyber Monday brings a huge boost in business.
"Last year, Cyber Monday was a record sales day for us," said Chris Nielsen, the company's chief operating officer.
Zappos doesn't even offer Cyber Monday discounts. The company instead relies on its customer service to draw online shoppers to the site. Nielsen said all Las Vegas employees, from executives on down, work shifts in the call center during the holiday season.
"It's one of the most enjoyable parts of the holiday season for me," Nielsen said. "It's great to have a chance to hear from our customers and help them during what can be a really busy and stressful time of year."
Not only retailers benefit from a Cyber Monday boost. Local resorts are getting in on the deals by offering online-only discounted room rates.
Station Casinos last week rolled out its November "Super Sale," which company officials said is the largest hotel promotion in Station's history. The deals, which include discounts of up to 50 percent, must be booked on the Station Casinos website and are available through Monday .
"We wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the combination of both Black Friday and Cyber Monday," company spokeswoman Lori Nelson said. "Why not for travel as well?"
Other hotels are expected to announce their Cyber Monday deals the day of, with MGM Grand and Caesars Palace among those planning to reveal specials Monday via Twitter.
Many of the usual suspects will be offering Cyber Monday deals, including Zappos parent company Amazon.com Inc. Cyber Monday was the biggest sales day of last year for the company, with nearly 13.7 million items ordered. Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target are also among the big websites planning to offer deals online.
Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at
cmcgarry@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.
