CPG & Logistics: One week till "Cyber Monday"

Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 20 Nov 2006 14:07

Washington, DC, November 20, 2006—The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts a strong "Cyber Monday." Cyber Monday is the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, and is the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

Why does that matter to manufacturers who, after all, should have been producing and shipping Christmas-season goods by now?

Because of the advent of Amazon.com-style shopping, by which the manufacturer maintains inventory and ships final product, or ships to a 3PL and practices vendor-managed inventory. Thus, manufacturers are a lot closer to the ground at Christmastime than they have been in years.

NRF coined the term Cyber Monday, and predicts that 2006 sales will exceed 2005 as retailers target at-work shoppers with lunch hour promotions and special savings. In fact, November 27, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is expected to be one of the biggest online holiday shopping days again this year.

An interesting side note is that online retailers are targeting at-work consumers, as the number of people who will shop online for holiday gifts from work is expected to surge to 61.0 million people this year, up from 51.7 million people last year, according to a recent Shop.org survey conducted by BIGresearch. In fact, more than half of consumers (50.7%) with Internet access at work plan to do some holiday shopping online from the office, up from 44.7 percent last year. Young adults with online access at work are the most likely to shop, with almost three-fourths (71.5%) of 18-24 year-olds and two-thirds (66.4%) of 25-34 year-olds planning to browse or buy online from the office this holiday season.

Fueling the traffic on Cyber Monday, online retailers will unveil an array of promotions to demonstrate new offerings.

There will certainly be a lot at stake: according to the Shop.org/Shopzilla eHoliday Mood Study, conducted by BizRate Research, Cyber Monday was the second biggest shopping day of the holiday season last year. (December 12, which was one of the last days online retailers offered free standard shipping, was first.)

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