At Thanksgiving dinner, my sister-in-law proudly proclaimed that she was going home to sleep so she could start shopping at midnight. It was at that point where I knew some type of intervention would be needed to snap her back to reality.
But, there was no hope.
She had her sights set on what she wanted, where she was going, what coupons were needed, what time she needed to be in line at each store and when a 3 minute pee break was warranted.
That’s a little too intense for me.
Like most Black Friday shoppers, I’m sure she scored herself some good deals even if it involved losing sleep and driving around in the wee small hours of the morning.
The news Friday night was filled with stories about people sleeping on sidewalks waiting for stores to open and we can’t forget the bargain shopper who was so driven to grab all the deals she could, she pepper-sprayed fellow shoppers.
Once we were all tucked in, we woke up the next morning ready to celebrate Small Business Saturday. The American Express sponsored promotion, now in it’s second year, was designed to get people to shop their local home-town small businesses. Unfortunately, if you ask ten people about Small Business Saturday, you’ll be lucky if one of them knows what you’re talking about.
So on to Cyber Monday. The big day for eCommerce store owners.
I got the obligatory call from the local newspaper to give my interpretation of how the day was going to shape up. “It will be busy and people will be shopping online.” What else is there to say?
My in-box was filling up with Cyber Monday promotions beginning late Sunday night and continuing through the day on Monday. None were spectacular enough to make me want to buy. Sure there were plenty of percentage-off coupons and free shipping deals, but none got me to say “Wow!”
I talked with several eCommerce store owners who said their Cyber Monday sales were “good.” I got an “awesome” out of one of them. In this economy, I guess an “awesome” is pretty “good.”
The only other shopping day to note is Free Shipping Day which is coming up on December 16th. Close to 1,400 online stores are offering free shipping that day, which also happens to be the cut-off for Christmas delivery. I wouldn’t get overly excited about this one, as most etailers are already offering deals on shipping for holiday shoppers.
If you managed to get a good deal during any of these special shopping days, congratulations.
If your eCommerce store did better this Cyber Monday than last, good for you.
I’m waiting for the after Christmas sales.