There has yet to be too much talk about Cyber Monday stats for 2008, but a few sources have reported mixed messages. The local Atlanta news claimed that Cyber Monday had a record number of traffic hits in the afternoon, but one blog, GigaOM, says it was less successful than last year. Here’s are some of the conclusions one blogger has drawn from the facts.
1. “The number of page and product views across the online retail sector in general was down 8.55 and 8.29 percent, respectively, compared to Black Friday 2007, according to Coremetrics, which also points out that there was an 18-percent drop in average session length — a clear sign that retailers are struggling to keep customers on their sites.”
I agree that there is plenty of hesitation from shoppers to make purchases online this year. However, do the number of product views and session lengths really imply anything about the outcome of Cyber Monday? This year, it was all about research with comparison shopping sites. People were out to find the best deals and discounts available, so much so that they could have done their research before Cyber Monday, and spent less time slowly browsing sites on that day. This would also explain the drop in average session length. Just a thought regarding extra variables in the equation, although he makes a valid point.
2. Black Friday ecommerce sales (Cyber Monday sales have yet to be released) rose 1 percent. However, even though people are buying more per order, they are paying less for them.
This is very true. In order to compete against the stiff competition this year, it was imperative that e-tailers slash prices and offer great promotions to consumers. It’s likely this trend will translate into Cyber Monday stats as well.
3. “On the web sites of department stores, Coremetrics data finds a 12-percent increase in order sessions, a 30-percent surge in average items per order, and a 10-percent rise in average order value — none of which is good news for specialty retailers.”
It looks like household names were able to draw in the most online shoppers. But the big brands also had some major mishaps. Victoria’s Secret’s site was down for a two hours in the early afternoon, seriously damaging their Cyber Monday profitability. According to the GigaOM, “Availability (defined as the percentage of times that a shopper’s end-to-end transaction is accomplished without error) was not up to par among major brands on Friday. Amazon’s availability was 73.49 percent, while Apple came in at 87.35 percent and Circuit City at 63.75 percent.” *
So of the winners as losers this Cyber Monday, who took home the biggest prize? Electronics. According to PriceGrabber, the Wii did extremely well online. Other hot gadgets included HDTVs, LCD TVs, the iPod Touch, and the iPod Nano.
When more Cyber Monday stats come through, I’ll be sure to post another update.
ShopVisible is an ecommerce solution headquartered in Atlanta, GA.
*What’s great about an ecommerce provider like ShopVisible is that our solution is completely scalable and can handle a surge in activity. Our clients, many of whom are from small to medium business, don’t have to worry about their site going down on a crucial day like Cyber Monday. This is the kind of thing that online merchants should not have to worry about on one of the most important days of the year for their business.
