Cyber Myth

Posted at 9:57 AM on November 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

In the world of marketing, you can make something true, just by saying it is.

Newsies working on a slow day usually blare, "the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year," except it isn't. The Saturday before Christmas is. And getting up at 2:30 on Friday to go shopping isn't normal.

"Today is Cyber Monday, the traditional start of the online holiday shopping season," declares the Detroit Free Press.

News Cut admits it didn't know there was a traditional start of the online holiday shopping season. And for good reason. a)It's not the start of the online holiday shopping season and b) it's not a tradition. It's marketing.

Cyber Monday comes from shop.org, the association of online retailers. The group sent out a news release a few days before the 2005 date, which described the following Monday as "one of the biggest online shopping days of the year." Except that it wasn't, according to Business Week.

Based on data from comScore, a research firm, online shopping for the holidays begins in early November, and surges on Black Friday, when over $550 million in transactions occurred, and peaks around the second week of December.

About $700 million is expected to be raked in online today, mostly because online stores are joining the marketing plan. Still, if last year is any guide, today is not the busiest shopping day of the year. That will likely come next week.

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