The Power of Retail

Cyber Monday is almost here and online retailers are gearing up to offer lots of special Cyber Monday deals to kick-start the shopping season this year. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, 116 retailer were surveyed and it was found that 72% of them would be offering special deals on Cyber Monday, a significant rise from 43% who offered special deals two years ago. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving and is one of the busiest days of online shopping, with shoppers checking out online sale sites during their lunch breaks or while they are working.

According to Scott Silverman, executive director at NRF’s Shop.org, the Cyber Monday phenomenon started in 2005 and while last year was a trial year for some, this year all online retailers are taking it seriously. One of the leading sites on holiday sales, Gift.com found that its visitors more than tripled last year on Cyber Monday as compared to 2005.

Among the Cyber Monday offers:

•Ice.com says it will give away a pair of diamond stud earrings to every 100th customer that day. It is offering a 20% discount to anyone who goes to a special page it has created for Cyber Monday.

•Shopadidas.com will give 25% off on all running and training apparel, which it says is a bigger offer than last year’s.

•Figleaves.com, an online retailer of intimate apparel, will offer a 20% discount on its home page for its entire site. Last year, it only offered e-mail promotions to existing customers.