Cyber Monday is Coming

Meijer, Walgreens and drugstore.com are among the 90 percent of retailers offering special online promotions this coming Cyber Monday — the Monday following Thanksgiving — according to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

According to the study, nearly nine in 10 (87.1 percent) retailers will have a special promotion, up from 83.7 percent last year and 72.2 percent in 2007. The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (42.9 percent), one-day sales (32.9 percent) and free shipping on all purchases (15.7 percent). Half of the retailers surveyed will distribute promotions and deals to shoppers through a special Cyber Monday e-mail. Meijer, for example, is offering free shipping to shoppers that day, and online shoppers who spend $150 on two or more items will receive a free $25 gift card.

“Retailers have a very acute sense of the importance of Cyber Monday in kick-starting holiday sales and have been planning their promotions for months,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. “It seems like companies up the ante every year for Cyber Monday, and many holiday shoppers are eagerly anticipating the bargains that await them this year.”

Cyber Monday, a term coined by Shop.org in 2005, began after retailers noticed a trend of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Today, Cyber Monday is viewed as the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, when shoppers flood Web sites expecting robust promotions and many retailers highlight some of their most compelling holiday offers.

While online retailers will feature promotions and savings on their own sites, more than 700 companies have come together again this year to feature their Cyber Monday deals in one place. At CyberMonday.com, launched three years ago, retailers will post holiday promotions and special savings both on Cyber Monday and throughout the holidays. Powered by Mall Networks, CyberMonday.com was created by retailers as a one-stop shop for consumers looking for the best Cyber Monday promotions.

In addition to hundreds of special offers, some of which will be exclusive promotions only available on the site, CyberMonday.com will feature a Deal of the Hour on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, highlighting a different retail promotion every 60 minutes. (Most retailers participating in Black Friday Deals of the Hour were to have been announced on Tuesday, Nov. 24; Cyber Monday Deals of the Hour will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 29.) Offers will include free shipping specials, dollars off, percentages off and free gifts with purchase.

Additionally, CyberMonday.com leverages popular social media sites to drive viral marketing of these promotions, with visibility on Facebook, Twitter and text deal alerts. More than $250 in retail gift cards will be distributed each day to fans and followers through Christmas.

All CyberMonday.com proceeds received by Shop.org benefit its Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund, which helps students pursuing careers in retail. Ray Greenly was a VP at Shop.org before passing away from cancer in 2005. More than $900,000 has been raised for the scholarship fund through CyberMonday.com to date.

The Shop.org eHoliday Study, conducted by BIGresearch, polled 70 retailers and was conducted from Sept. 14 through Oct. 6, 2009. The poll on consumer shopping at work was conducted for Shop.org by BIGresearch from Nov. 3-10, 2009. The survey, which polled 8,692 consumers, has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes.

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, represents digital retailers across all retail channels, and is composed of more than 600 members.
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