Cyber Monday surging past Black Friday

Last Friday made it obvious that the hype of Black Friday is dying down. There are less customers willing to be part of the hectic mayhem that has long been Black Friday because they don't find the deals as great as they used to be, and they realize they can get the same deals online. That realization has caused a new big day on the shopping calendar to become much more prevalent: Cyber Monday.

RetailNext reported that net sales combined for Thanksgiving and Black Friday were down 1.5 year-over-year on flat traffic. Over two-thirds of Americans appear to be doing okay or well financially however, according to a study by Conlumino. This doesn't mean shoppers are shopping any less overall, quite the contrary in fact.

According to footwearnews.com, shoppers were actually spending earlier than Black Friday this year for their circa Thanksgiving deals. Target reported that they saw a 35 percent increase in buy-online/pick-up in store shoppers this year. IBM Watson Trend, a firm that racks and analyzes retail revenues and trends said that online sales for Thanksgiving were already up 26 percent from last year.

Cyber Monday becomes the more popular discount deal day on the calendar

The result of retailers opting to do promotions earlier was part of the reason behind the decline of shoppers out and about on Black Friday. The National Retail Federation estimated 99.8 million shopper were out for Black Friday.

ShopRunner, a member's only shopping service that connects brands and retailers to consumers, also noted that 85 percent of their consumers intend to shop on Cyber Monday today. They also said that many of their retailers are planning on offering better deals on Cyber Monday versus Black Friday, as they recognize the growing significance of the former mentioned day.

Oliver Chen, an analyst at Cowen, was quoted saying to Footwear News that "Combined with the improved convenience of online shopping thru mobile ordering & in-store pickup options and the seamless availability of deals online, we believe standing in-line for doorbusters is losing its appeal. Simply put, the consumer is becoming much more savvy and sophisticated, reducing the need to wait in-line."