Cyber Monday Transforms into Cyber Week at Many Online Retailers

No, it’s not a glitch.

Cyber Monday is evolving into Cyber Week. Or at least extending beyond a one-day event at many online retailers.

Online sales on Monday reached record highs, growing nearly 20% on the popular holiday shopping day—coined Cyber Monday—that occurs when consumers head back to their work computers rather than stores and continue their holiday shopping online. Sales on Dec. 2 reached $9.42 billion, according to Adobe Analytics, up from $7.87 billion a year earlier. As more shoppers turn to the web while at work to check off their gift lists quickly, many e-retailers are extending the sales they offer on Cyber Monday for several days or the full week, transforming Cyber Monday into Cyber Week in many cases.

An analysis of 50 top online retailers conducted on Tuesday by Digital Commerce 360 finds that 31 retailers, or 62%, extended their deals beyond Monday.

Many retailers promoted Cyber Week deals. Those include Walmart Inc., No. 3 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, Macy’s Inc. (No. 5), Qurate Retail Group (parent of QVC.com and No. 9), Wayfair Inc. (No. 12), Target Corp. (No. 16), Lenovo Group Ltd. (No. 27), Newegg Inc. (No. 30), Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (No. 43), GameStop Corp. (No. 46) and Overstock.com Inc. (No. 47).

Ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1), meanwhile, offers 12 days of deals without using the term “cyber” in its marketing. Plus, other retailers like Otto Group (No. 6 and parent of Crate and Barrel) and Williams-Sonoma Inc. (No. 31) are more measured in their extensions, each extending Cyber Monday deals by one day.

Others such as adidas AG (No. 36) and Lowe’s Cos. Inc (No. 32) were vague in their cyber-related marketing messages. Adidas’ website read “Cyber Monday sale ends soon,” and Lowe’s used the phrase “final days” in relation to Cyber Monday deal extensions.

A handful of retailers stuck to one-day deals. This includes H&M (No. 29), which offered 30% off and free shipping on Cyber Monday only, and Nordstrom Inc. (No. 18), which touted discounts of up to 50% only on Dec. 2.

Over the past four years, online sales on Cyber Monday have averaged two-and-a-half times more dollars spent than those on an average day, according to data analytics provider 1010data. However, 1010data finds Cyber Monday is overshadowed by Black Friday in online spending. Black Friday sees a higher sales spike, at three-and-a-half times, while the days after Black Friday and Cyber Monday see spillover sales of twice that of an average day, 1010data says. The analytics vendor bases its findings on anonymous credit card transactions tracking the spending of millions of U.S. consumers.

“Ecommerce giants, such as Walmart, Target and Amazon, have started to announce Black Friday deals a week before Thanksgiving and sales lasting for the entire week following [Thanksgiving],” 1010data says.