Cyber Monday Sales Bump Expected, May Not Matter For Music November 30, 2009
- Digital and Mobile
By Antony Bruno, Denver
Originally created as a promotion to drive awareness for online shopping, Cyber Monday is slowly becoming a real factor for retailers hoping to spike sales over the holiday shopping period.
ComScore predicted the Monday after Thanksgiving would see online sales in excess of $900 million. BigResearch estimated 95.5 million Americans would shop online Monday from 85 million a year ago. And according to Shop.com - which originated the Cyber Monday moniker - more than 80% of online retailers offered Cyber Monday discounts this year.
But as music sales move from physical to digital, don't look to Cyber Monday to be the music industry's new Black Friday, regardless of the hype. Although Amazon.com featured discounts as high as 75% on certain CDs, and more than 500 digital albums for $5 or less, the online retailer regularly features such discounts regardless of the day or time of year. iTunes meanwhile had no Cyber Monday promotions.
Music, being a relatively inexpensive gift item to begin with-particularly digital downloads-is not the core focus of Cyber Monday sale. However there were some good deals to be found on what retailers more traditionally feature-gadgets. iPods of various flavors saw deep discounts as retailers looked to clear their inventory. Sales of MP3 players are expected to soften as connected devices like iPhones and other smartphones take over the portable music space. How this plays out next year and beyond will be an interesting trend to watch. Despite its marketing hype, Cyber Monday is not the biggest online shopping day. That more likely takes place in the first two weeks of December, as inventory rises and the holiday shopping rush kicks into high gear.
What's more, the need for a Cyber Monday promotion is becoming less necessary. The day originated as a way to promote online shopping to potential customers who did not have broadband Internet access at home. The idea was to feature online promotions on Monday after employees returned to work to use the high-speed connections of their employers.
But with broadband penetration rates on the rise, and with online shopping becoming mainstream, there's less need for a Cyber Monday type of promotion. Case in point, online sales on Black Friday increased 11% this year over last. Yet it's also possible that the promotion may become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as 87% of online retailers participated in Cyber Monday promotions this year, according to Shop.com. That is up from more than 83% last year and 72% the year before.
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