Retailers Have High Hopes For Cyber Monday After Booming Black Friday
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – Retailers rang up record sales on Black Friday as shoppers spent an estimated $11.4 billion dollars – nearly a billion dollars more than last year.
Now, businesses are gearing up for similar sales on Cyber Monday. All online.
For cyber shopper Tom Birge, it all comes down to four simple words: "I don't like crowds," Birge said.
Birge will be among the estimated 123 million people expected to cash in on sales on Cyber Monday - the biggest online shopping day of the year.
"I don't like going to the malls, so I go to amazon.com and that's my Christmas area," Birge said.
"I stay at home - point and click, give it my information, then boom - it'll be right where I need it to be next couple of days," cyber shopper Steven Martin said.
Shoppers say their computer is more convenient than dealing with the mall madness.
"Meeting people, running into people, fighting over products; that's the best thing the internet has brought, the whole shopping online," Martin said.
"You're not going to get pepper sprayed or Tazed like other people on Black Friday," Birge said of online shopping. "You don't have to worry about all that violence - you're pretty much set."
Birge and others don't necessarily have to wait until Monday. Some online stores rolled out their promotional deals over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.
Online sales are estimated to bring in about $1.2 billion dollars in sales.
"You kind of have to watch that shipping and handling they kind of catch you right there," Birge said. "But lately, most people have free shipping and free handling so it works out well."
According to shop.org, more than half of all Cyber Monday shoppers will do so while at work. So, it begged the question, would Birge be among that statistic?
"I don't know - my boss might be watching. I'm just going to decline to say anything on that, so I think you can use good judgment and take a guess on that one," he said.
Shop.org also reports some 18 million shoppers won't even use their computers, rather, they'll do their cyber shopping on their smart phones.
