How much people are expected to spend this Cyber Monday
This year’s Cyber Monday will likely be a continuation of Black Friday as retailers have been offering discounts weeks ahead of the holiday season.
“Frankly we should just call it Cyber Holiday because I think that’s what’s going to be the theme here,” Gregg Zegras, executive VP and president of global e-commerce at Pitney Bowes told Yahoo Finance Live.
Even though deals from the likes of Target (TGT), Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) came early this year— “a lot of the shopping is still in front of us,” said Zegras.
“66% of consumers that we are studying through our BOXpoll survey are still planning on shopping as they get into Black Friday and Cyber Monday and obviously up until the Christmas holiday,” he added.
Cyber Monday is still projected to be a bigger online shopping day than Black Friday. Consumers will spend some $12.7 billion on Cyber Monday, a 25% year-over-year jump, according to Adobe Analytics data. By comparison, Black Friday is projected to generate $10 billion in online sales.
“The consumer has really, really adopted to shopping online. More than half that used to shop through traditional channels including in stores are shopping online. They’re doing a lot of brand surfing. There’s a lot of exploration online,” said Zegras.
The steepest discounts for toys and furniture are expected on Sunday — the day before Cyber Monday. While more tech and electronics deals will be offered on Black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics.
Some of the most anticipated deals gifts include Star Wars toys and LEGO sets, Rainbocorns, Cutetitos, and Little Live Pets
Video games and consoles like Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 5, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox Series X, and Nintendo (7974.T) Switch are also popular.
‘Get your shopping done as soon as you possibly can’
The cheapest shipping options are expected on Cyber Monday. About 64% of shoppers say they’re not going to pay for expedited shipping this year.
It’s expected that shipments will increase as shoppers send their gifts to friends and family rather than visit them in person. Those extra packages though may put a strain on deliveries which could see some delays if shoppers hold off ordering past Cyber Monday.
“Get your shopping done as soon as you possibly can,” said Zegras. “It doesn’t mean that if you order in the middle of December your package won’t arrive; you’re just taking more and more risk the close you get of the middle of December.”
Ines covers the U.S. stock market. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre
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