Millions Expected to Shop on Cyber Monday
It’s Cyber Monday—the day American shoppers are expected to formally order Winter Holiday presents online—but forecasts for the digital shopping day predict a dip in sales.
The National Retail Federation’s Cyber Monday Expectations Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, found that 121 million shoppers plan to spend online for gifts. It’s a decline from the 126.9 million who said that they will shop on Cyber Monday in 2014, according to the survey. The survey also found that digital gift shopping started early; 103 million people were said to have shopped online during the Thanksgiving Weekend.
Cyber Monday follows a Black Friday weekend that was a mixed bag. ShopperTrak, a market research group estimated that over the combined Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, sales will be $12.1 billion, a dip from $12.29 billion in the previous year. Another market research firm, RetailNext estimated that sales for Thanksgiving and the Black Friday Weekend will fall 1.5 percent on both days.
During Thanksgiving, Ken Perkins, president of market research firm Retail Metrics Inc. wrote that Thanksgiving shopping crowds were enthusiastic about starting the shopping season.
“Predominately younger, millennial consumers ditched their turkey dinners to hit deal-laden retailers on Thanksgiving evening in relatively strong numbers….Macy’s noted they had 15,000 shoppers waiting in line at the flagship Herald Square Store in Manhattan comparable to what they had last year,” he wrote in a Nov. 29 note. He also noted that Thanksgiving shopping was busy. It dipped after 10 p.m., then skyrocketed again on Black Friday afternoon
