Interesting observations have been published by comScore just two days ago.
Having analyzed the U.S. online sales data during the first 48 days of the November – December in 2009 versus the same time period in 2008, they have arrived at statistics which mean that Cyber Monday is no longer the busiest day in online shopping. Here is the data:
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2009 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days* in 2008
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Non-Travel (Retail) Spending
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Excludes Auctions and Large Corporate Purchases
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Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations
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Source: comScore, Inc.
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Millions ($)
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2008 2009 Percent Change
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November 1 - December 18 $23,873 $24,757 4%
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Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) $288 $318 10%
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Black Friday (Nov. 27) $534 $595 11%
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Cyber Monday (Nov. 30) $834 $887 5%
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Green Monday (Dec. 14) $859 $854 -1%
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Tuesday, Dec. 15 $754 $913 21%
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So while the Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday both registered a good increase in sales, it is the Tuesday two weeks after the Cyber Monday that has seen the most substantial increase – from $754 mln in 2008 to $913 mln in 2009 (21% increase)!
Also the newly-christened “Green Tuesday” (December 15, 2009) turned out to be this year’s heaviest online spending day, beating Cyber Monday (November 30, 2009) with its $887 millions spent, and Green Monday (December 14, 2009) which yielded a $854 million spend this year.
This is really interesting data that I’ll have to keep in mind when planning my marketing efforts next year. What’s encouraging is that this holiday season saw significan increases in online shopping compared to 2008.
I have been in the retail business for many years now and Cyber-Monday has never been the busiest on-line shopping day. The busiest day typically is around the Monday two weeks before Christmas.
Anthony, Colin,
Thank you very much for your comments.
Yes, what also being called Green Monday (historically “a more popular shopping date than Cyber Monday“) is another day I could’ve included in the title of the post. But since this year it is Cyber Monday that is reported to have shown more shopping activity from online consumers, I’ve decided to compare the “Green Tuesday” to Cyber Monday.