Cyber Monday: Even More Businesses, Consumers Taking Part
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- This Cyber Monday, shoppers are expected to spend a spend $1.5 billion, which is hundreds of millions more than last year, according to Internet analytics firm comScore. Just like Black Friday, Cyber Monday is starting earlier than ever, with many retailers offering Cyber Weekend deals.
Retails expert Jon Seltzer says he expects a strong Cyber Monday, but a more spread-out one now that more people shop at home or on their phones.
"Online shopping has morphed backwards in Sunday and Saturday and Black Friday, but I think one of the big changes is the brick and mortar, the Targets and Best Buys, are more and more aggressive," he said.
Eighty-five percent of retailers are expected to offer some sort of Monday promotion and 44 percent say they'll have free shipping, according to the National Retail Federation.
For Joni Benson, there's no such things as Cyber Monday. Instead, she signs up for store emails and uses Google to price compare, so she can shop every other day of the week.
"My husband hates it," she said, laughing.
Benson doesn't like shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving because she sometimes finds the best deals are out of stock.
"I might try, but I have just as many deals than as not having the deal with that mess," said Benson.
Paul Benson is a true Cyber Monday shopper.
"I'll have all the big purchases done by tomorrow," he said.
He uses the ShopSavvy app on his phone to find deals and says he can get better prices on big items on Cyber Monday.
"I got a computer last year for $200," he said. "It was like a $600 computer."
Experts say the best way to shop Monday is to narrow down your list onto specific items, then do a price search from there on engines like Google Shopping, Nextag and Amazon.
