Retailers Counting on Cyber Monday

November 25, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2008 People who don’t want to fight Black Friday crowds will have a less chaotic shopping option just three days later on the Internet. Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is expected to be more promotional than ever this year as retailers offer one-day sales and special offers to bring holiday shoppers online—especially at lunchtime.

That’s according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org digital retail division.

To get a handle on holiday shopping, office workers won’t be heading to the mall over their lunch hour; they’ll be eating at their desk. This year, according to the BIGresearch survey, 55.8 percent of workers with Internet access, or 72.8 million people, will shop for holiday gifts from work. The trend of employees with Internet access shopping from the office has continued to increase: In 2005, only 44.7 percent said they shopped online for holiday gifts from work.

Though slightly more than half of workers will be shopping from the office, some are more likely to make a dent in their wish lists than others. According to the survey, 70 percent of young adults ages 18 to 34 with Internet access will shop at work. Additionally, men are more likely to shop from work than women (60.3 percent vs. 51.5 percent).

The poll on consumer shopping at work was conducted Nov. 5–11, 2008. The survey, which polled 8,758 consumers, has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.