Although touted by many as the busiest online shopping day of the year, “Cyber Monday” may not meet retailers’ expectations as a purchasing orgy.
Although 70 percent of all holiday shoppers will do some buying online, according to Deloitte & Touche, most of them make their purchases in December.
When they return to work after the long holiday weekend, shoppers do go online to browse and to compare prices.
The Monday after Thanksgiving is a “heavy day for browsing,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of Reston, Va.-based Internet traffic-tracker comScore Networks. “It takes most people quite some time to decide what they’re going to buy, online and offline.”
Generally, 25 percent of people who research computer and consumer electronics items online make a purchase within the next three months, Fulgoni said. But nine of every 10 make those purchases offline.
Fulgoni expects the heaviest online shopping day to occur during the week of Dec. 11., when shoppers decide to stop comparing and start buying – so that their gifts can be delivered on time.
That’s one of the advantages of buying online, said Aurora resident Jill Lottie, 37. “You don’t have to go out, and most of the stores offer free shipping.”
Lottie plans to shop websites such as BestBuy.com, Walmart .com and SportsAuthority.com.
In 2005, Cyber Monday ranked as the ninth-busiest online shopping day, based on transactions processes, according to a study released by MasterCard.
This holiday season, more than 114 million Americans are expected to spend a record $32 billion on the Internet, up 18 percent from last year, according to New York-based JupiterResearch.
Even so, their ranks are growing more slowly than in previous years – just 6 percent in 2006.
Mary Reed, who was visiting Denver from New York City last week, said she does a lot of online shopping because it allows her to avoid the hustling crowds of New York shops.
Online shopping still makes up just 2.7 percent of total retail sales, said Gary Horvath, managing director of the business research division at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business. Nonetheless, it’s an important component of the retail sector because it allows retailers to market to their most loyal customers, he said.
More retailers are leveraging their websites with their physical stores, encouraging customers to make a purchase online but pick it up at a store, Fulgoni said.
Jennifer Sanchez, 26, of Denver is among the customers who will avoid online shopping this year after a bit of bad luck last year.
“I tried it last year, and everything showed up late,” Sanchez said Friday as she and her family stood in line to visit with Santa at FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield.
Staff writers Kristi Arellano and Andy Vuong and The Detroit News contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
