Current Issue

View Archives

View Flipbook

Table of Contents

Lead Story

Transformation: Checks in the 21st century

Features

Living up to his name

Mobile tech and the ATM

Industry Leader

Man on the move

Views

Counting our blessings

Small merchants mean big future

Education

Street SmartsSM:
Sale away, team

Office shopping done for you

Make the most of your sales meeting

Why use an executive recruiter?

B2B: Pedal to the floor

Company Profile

World Gift Card

New Products

High-tech data security in your wallet

Fast, photogenic PCI-compliant card reader

Miscellaneous

POScript

The Green Sheet Online Edition

December 12, 2007 • 07:12:01

Black, cyber and green, shoppers appear keen

On average, American consumers spent $10.3 billion on Black Friday 2007 and $6.1 billion the following Saturday, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp. estimates. The two day totals are up 7.2% from 2006. Black Friday is traditionally thought of as the start of the holiday shopping season.

Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving, which now marks the start of the online holiday shopping season) brought in $733 million, according to market research firm comScore Inc.

Consumers spent approximately 21% more this year than last. After beating the pavement in the wee morning hours on Friday and dealing with massive crowds on Saturday, why did shoppers turn to the Web on Monday?

Data from comScore shows that 60% of the money spent on Cyber Monday comes from people shopping at work. Employers provide Internet access, and employees want to order in privacy - away from the peering eyes of gift recipients.

Getting in line, online

Research firm Akamai Technologies Inc. estimated Cyber Monday's Web traffic was 3 million hits per minute, a reported 37% growth in North American Web traffic over last year.

Black Friday fared well for online shopping as well. Data from eBay Inc.'s PayPal unit showed a 33% jump over 2006 in online payments on that day.

Alas, it wasn't good tidings for all merchants. Take the Yahoo.com snafu. The popular Web portal's flurry of online shoppers caused its merchant platform's checkout system to malfunction, affecting the ability of its affiliated stores and businesses to close sales. The problem began the morning of Cyber Monday and wasn't solved until late that night.

Going green

Even with the price cuts, promotions and incentives offered on Thanksgiving weekend, many consumers avoided the shopping fray until December; sales usually reach a zenith on the second Monday of December, a day retailers refer to as Green Monday.

PayPal data confirms that holiday buying is the busiest on the second Monday in December, rather than on Cyber Monday. And according to Shopping.com's recent survey, 40% of respondents said they'll do most of their holiday shopping in the month of December.

So, Black Friday and Cyber Monday just pave the way for bigger sales later in the season, a release from eBay, PayPal and Shopping.com stated. In any event, whether black, cyber and green days are myth or reality, the holiday season 2007 kicked off with a bang despite numerous predictions to the contrary. End of Story

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.

skyscraper ad