Mark W. Smith says it's a holiday born from commercial interests
Staff at the Amazon Swansea fulfillment center process orders as they prepare their busiest time of the year on Thursday in Swansea, Wales. / Matt Cardy/Getty Images
By Mark W. Smith
Detroit Free Press Technology Columnist
It is, after all, the biggest online shopping day of the year.
But contrary to popular wisdom, it hasn't been that way for very long. In fact, last year was the first year Cyber Monday recorded the most single-day online sales in the U.S., according to market research firm comScore.
The term Cyber Monday was coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation, and its Shop.org e-commerce arm, as a way to mark the behavior that many people shopped at work the Monday after Thanksgiving because they lacked a broadband Internet connection at home.
That barrier, largely, is gone for the masses.
But in 2006, even as the broadband divide remained, Cyber Monday was just the 12th-biggest online spending day of the year.
Gradually, as retailers began to push the Cyber Monday message — a way to continue the Black Friday retail hype — consumer spending habits began to change.
This happened not because the bend of the universe did so organically, but because retailing groups decided that it should be so.
By 2010, the hype was big enough that more than $1 billion was spent online in a single day — a first for the U.S.
This year, comScore predicts U.S. shoppers will increase the record set in 2010, spending as much as $1.2 billion online today.
These sort of made-up holidays are nothing new. Sweetest Day in October, for example, is believed to be born from candy companies hoping to get a boost on the opposite side of the calendar year as Valentine's Day.
But Cyber Monday feels particularly egregious — a completely concocted holiday, built on a myth, that has managed to wrest billions of dollars from American consumers.
There will be many more good deals to be had in the coming weeks. And the all-important window for shipping in time for the holidays has not yet closed.
Rest assured that retailers will continue to work hard to earn your money.
So relax. If you find a good deal online today, go for it.
But this isn't the end.
Mark W. Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment