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Cyber Monday Brings Little Relief

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 4, 2008

NEW YORK - Like their counterparts at the malls, online merchants finally got some relief with the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, spurred by a bevy of deals and free shipping offers. But the stronger-than-expected bump in online sales Monday couldn't cancel out a lackluster November.

Meanwhile, ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a research company that tracks total retail sales for more than 50,000 outlets, released more data Wednesday showing that the better-than-expected sales boost on Friday, the traditional opening for the holiday shopping season at stores, fizzled quickly during the rest of the weekend - resulting in a mixed start to the season.
Internet research company comScore Inc. said Wednesday that online sales spiked 15 percent to $846 million on Cyber Monday, which was named by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to describe the surge in online spending when customers returned to work after Thanksgiving and shopped from their desks.

Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Co., reported a 10 percent increase in Web traffic to online shopping sites on Cyber Monday, fueled by beauty items, toys and video games.

According to comScore, the four-day period from Friday through Monday saw e-commerce spending jump 13 percent as both weekend days and Monday all posted double-digit gains.

From Nov. 1 through Dec. 1, however, online spending fell 2 percent.

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