Cyber Monday sees rush, but it could retailers’ margins
Even though there was a bit of a slow down on certain retail sites on the Thanksgiving weekend, overall online sales and traffic did increase which is a good way to start the holiday season. According to Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, if consumer have a good experience early on in the season, they are sure to continue to shop later on as well.
ForeSee conducted a survey on which customer satisfaction decreased slightly by 1.3% on Cyber Monday as compared to last year. The slight decline was partly due to high traffic on Cyber Monday, which caused several sites to slow down. According to ComScore Inc., online buyers increased by 38% on Cyber Monday, with sites such as Buy.com and Eddie Bauer seeing a slowdown in traffic.
This year Cyber Monday received a lot of traffic due to the increase in promotions that drove sales, which could ultimately cut down on retailers’ margins. On Cyber Monday alone, sales increased by 21% for a total of $733 million as estimated by ComScore. The biggest gainer was shopping.msn.com which saw an increase of 261% over the past few weeks. Overstock.com saw an increase of 139% and Cuircit City gained by 136% on Cyber Monday.