Cyber Monday More Successful than Las Year

NPD released a report that this year, 17 percent of consumers reported shopping online on Cyber Monday compared to 16 percent last year. Of those shoppers, 58 percent reported making a purchase this year compared to 47 percent last year, spending roughly 12 percent more than last year on average. Total estimated sales for Cyber Monday online buying topped $1.47 billion, up approximately 21 percent over last year.

The study’s results also indicate that brick & mortar stores got a Cyber Monday bounce. While slightly fewer consumers shopped in store (11 percent this year versus 12 percent last year), a greater percentage converted to purchase (83 percent versus last year’s 72 percent), spending roughly 8 percent more than last year on average. Total estimated sales for Cyber Monday were $4.62 billion, with $2.42 billion (52 percent) occurring in stores.

The number one shopped for category was apparel, with the percentage of consumers that reported making at least one apparel purchase on Cyber Monday increasing to 32 percent versus last year’s 21 percent.

As was the case for last year's Cyber Monday, there was an increase in self purchasing on Cyber Monday this year. Consumers shopping for non-gifts and for themselves on Cyber Monday was 54 percent of all online purchases.

When asked about their reasons for shopping this Cyber Monday, the number one reason online shoppers cited was to ’I wanted to compare prices and deals’ with 51 percent, up 27 percentage points over last year. Number two was ‘I saw an item I wanted advertised on sale,’ (45 percent) and the number three most cited reason was ‘I've got to get the holiday shopping done, ’(36 percent).

“This year, 68 percent of shoppers stated they have completed their shopping, compared to last year’s 69 percent, which tells us there is still more to come. Retailers have their work cut out for them,” said MarshAl Cohen, chief industry analyst, The NPD Group, Inc. “Even with the great start out of the gate, this race still has a long way to go. Consumers may have just spent themselves out until the next paycheck, so look for retailers to use more sales and specials to entice the consumer to keep shopping throughout the remainder of the holiday season.”

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