Cyber Monday has taken the nation by storm, bringing in over $6.6 billion dollars in revenue. This is the largest amount of money spent online in a single day to ever take place in the United States. Shoppers are now finding it more efficient to stay in their homes and online shop instead of going out. This method of saving results in less lines, makes dodging angry shoppers easy and even includes a bigger selection of items on sale. What could be better than lounging around in comfy pajamas, safe from crowds of people and free of trying to find a parking spot?
According to Adobe Analytics, “Sales have increased 16 percent from last year.” On Monday, sales reached over 2 million dollars for the first time on mobile devices. Over half of the weekend’s online purchases were made on cell phones. This will only continue to increase, as millennials are more likely to shop online and use their mobile devices to make purchases.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy had the largest amount of sales. This was the biggest shopping day that Amazon has ever experienced. Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s retail business, said, “Customers shopped at record levels, ordering hundreds of millions of products from toys to fashion to electronics and Amazon devices.” This is a 50 percent increase for Amazon, from last year and resulted in Amazon having the largest sales out of any store.
Senior, Collin Smith said, “I saw the deals and felt like I needed to shop on Cyber Monday. It’s easier than going to actual stores. I found a lot of good deals on Amazon.”
Honey is a must know website for Cyber Monday. This website tries to help people save money in any way possible. People shop normally, but at the checkout the website finds any coupons available. It scans for coupons from thousands of different stores. Time Magazine stats, “It’s basically free money.”
Unfortunately there are always many hackers hoping to take advantage of shoppers on Cyber Monday. Identity theft can be very problematic. Buyers should always check out as a guest and use a 3rd party app such as PayPal or Apple Pay. While this is more tedious, it can prevent a major disaster. In order to shop safely, use different passwords for each account, shop from a trusted website and use a secure internet connection. Shoppers should stray away from wifi hotspots.
Cyber Monday was a huge success. Businesses flourished and people were able to stay in the luxury of their own homes to get some holiday shopping done. It’s never too early to start thinking of ways to save big for next year.
