Fri 4th of December, filed under Internet News
Cyber Monday 2009 exceeds expectations
The biggest online spending day in history was equalled earlier this week, it has been revealed.
Millions of US shoppers head online to find Christmas bargains every year and sales traditionally peak on a specific day dubbed Cyber Monday. In 2009, Cyber Monday fell on November 30th and the day certainly lived up to expectations. According to figures from digital trend tracker comScore, online retail spend in the US reached £534 million on Cyber Monday 2009 – the same total as the most lucrative day on record, December 9th 2008.
It also appears that more consumers went online this year. Some 8.7 million people bought products on Cyber Monday 2009, up six per cent on the 8.2 million recorded a year earlier.
Shopping at work
Finally, the report gave an insight into where these deals occurred. More than half (52.7 per cent) of all shopping transactions took place at work, while a further 41.6 per cent were traced back to the home and the remaining 5.8 per cent were conducted from abroad.
Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, commented: "ComScore data have shown that Cyber Monday online sales have always been driven by considerable buying activity from work locations. That pattern hasn't changed. After returning from the long Thanksgiving weekend with a lot of holiday shopping still ahead of them, many consumers tend to continue their holiday shopping from work."
Christmas is also an increasingly important trading period for UK e-tailers. In 2008, the Office for National Statistics noted a 19.6 per cent year-on-year rise in online retail sales over the course of December.
Posted by Richard Frost
