Cyber Monday isn’t as important anymore because of e-commerce growth, analysts say – By Elizabeth Gurdus (cnbc.com) / Nov 24 2017
E-commerce growth is stymieing the importance of online shopping extravaganza Cyber Monday, several market experts told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Black Friday.
“I don’t think Cyber Monday is as important as it once was because we’re constantly connected. We can shop from anywhere,” said Liz Dunn, founder and CEO of retail analytics software company Pro4ma. “I don’t need to wait until that moment where I’m in front of my computer on Monday.”
Adobe Analytics calculated that mobile visits accounted for roughly 61 percent of Black Friday’s traffic, with retailers seeing double-digit growth in online transactions via desktops, smartphones and tablets.
Yet even though some Cyber Monday offers deeper discounts than Black Friday’s, the makeshift holiday is still losing its luster, said Brian Nagel, senior retail and e-commerce analyst at Oppenheimer.
“Cyber Monday was popular because that’s when people went back to their offices and had a computer that could shop online,” Nagel said about Cyber Monday’s nascent stages.
Nagel said Cyber Monday initially became popular before the age of internet-connected devices, when people would come back to work after Thanksgiving weekend and browse the web for deals. “Now we can shop online anytime, so I think that’s really diminished in significance as well,” he said.
Simeon Siegel, Instinet’s executive director of department stores, specialty retail and apparel equity research, added that the newer trend of retailers offering Black Friday-level discounts earlier in November and through December calls the importance of one-day shopping holidays into question.
With online shopping holidays like Amazon’s Prime Day coming to the fore, the fourth quarter as a whole is growing less important for retailers year over year, Siegel said.
“The entirety of this period is actually diminishing as a percent of the total year,” the analyst said. “So whether that’s because we have Prime Day over the summer, it’s stretched out beyond just the holiday period and I think that’s important to keep in mind.”
PB/TK – Well that’s just dandy! Thanks internet and e-commerce for ruining everyone’s Monday and Tuesday headlines.
