Cyber Monday Hits Record Sales – Finally!

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Apparently, online retailers had a bang up Cyber Monday according to Retailer Daily.

If you’ve been waiting around for news on how e-tailers did this Cyber Monday, well, hold onto your hat. Sales in the online world were higher for this Cyber Monday than they were for last year.

Here are a few stats about this past Cyber Black Monday that I found extremely interesting:

* E-commerce sales were 13.7% higher on Cyber Monday this year than they were last year
* Average dollar amount spent by consumers per online order rose 38.2%, from $130.24 to $180.03
* Apparel retailers and jewelry retailers drove this increase with 26.4% and 14.3% jumps in average dollar amount spent per online order, respectively.
* Sporting goods segment, retailers reported a nearly 55% increase in new site visitors, but a 3.1% decline in average dollar amount spent per online order.
* Department store retailers reported a 33% increase in new site visitors, but a nearly 10% decrease in the average value of each online order.
* Per order, consumers purchased 30% more items this year than they did last year.

And if that isn’t enough, 79% of respondents to a survey said they were planning to use the Internet for shopping. There may be many reasons why people are shopping more online.

Some theories that I have are as follows:

Lower Cost - Major retailers can offer much better discounts and deals online since there is a much lower cost of acquisition costs (generally speaking).

Comfortable Consumers – Consumers these days are very comfortable about shopping online, let along holiday shopping.

No Lines or Waiting – I think people overall are starting to realize that time is money and they no longer have to get up at 4AM and camp outside a store the day after Thanksgiving, just to get a great deal on a holiday gift. The can do this from there home anytime…

Anyway, these are a few thoughts, that I think may be factors as to why consumers are spending more online this holiday season.

So what does all of this say to you for the search engine marketing and internet marketing world? To me it says there is job security for search engine optimization and online marketers who can achieve good results for their clients. It says that e-tailers and marketers who use the Internet to reach their respective markets can rely on SEO (and other forms of Internet marketing) to reach their target markets. Yes, SEO is a tool for online marketing. When done well it can connect those with something to sell with those who want something to buy. Christmas or not.