Wal-Mart Leads Retail Industry To Early Cyber Monday Deals

With many consumers still gun shy when it comes to spending, retailers know their work is cut out for them to grow Christmas sales this year. Part of that is starting the deals early. You’ve probably heard about many stores’ plans, including Wal-Mart, Targetand Sears, to back up Black Friday a few hours to Thanksgiving evening, instead of waiting until midnight.

Now Wal-Mart is taking the additional step of moving up the season’s other big marketing gimmick named for a day of the week, Cyber Monday. So named for customers that choose to skip the store rush during Thanksgiving weekend in favor of shopping Monday online, Cyber Monday is generally targeted for web specials by chains looking to draw traffic and sales to their sites. This year, Wal-Mart is getting an early start by promoting online deals under the Cyber Monday moniker beginning Saturday, Nov. 24. Wal-Mart will keep the deals running through December 2, refreshing the offerings daily while offering early access to those who sign up for email alerts on the company’s website or ‘like’ the store on Facebook(those offers extend to Black Friday deals as well).

The single biggest deals will be on Cyber Monday itself, November 26. Focusing on electronics and toys, Wal-Mart is touting savings of up to $1,000 on Samsung 55-inch 3D television sets, and up to $400 on the smaller 40-inch (and non-3D) version, among other specials.

If history is any guide, expect other retailers to expand the Cyber Monday theme as well – most keep their eyes on Wal-Mart to set the tone each year. In fact, a new survey by shop.org, the digital division of the National RetailFederation, says that 97.3% of online retailers will offer discounts during Thanksgiving weekend before Cyber Monday, up from 90% last year. For those that generally like to shun Thanksgiving shopping but might like to sneak in some time on the computer before dinner, nearly half of those 97% will offer online specials on Thanksgiving Day itself. And like Wal-Mart, most e-tailers will keep customers abreast of deals through email, social media and mobile alerts.

It all seems to be part of a natural progression, as technology and shopping patterns evolve: first came Black Friday, then Cyber Monday, and now, in essence, a fusion of the two. If you can keep your head from spinning too much, a lot of excellent deals are there for the taking. Enough of them, the industry hopes, to eke out a small sales gain over last year.

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