November 27, 2006

According to a Shop.org study, approximately 61 million potential buyers plan to shop online from home or at work during one of the biggest eCommercee shopping days of the year.

On Monday morning, and as early as 8.00 AM EST, initial online traffic trends already indicated a large increase in the North American region, said Jennifer Donovan, spokeswoman for Akamai.

Akamai's Net Usage Index for retail, which monitors aggregate Web traffic to over 270 global Web sites, including etoys.com, Overstock.com, jcpenney.com, Bestbuy.com and Circuitcity.com, reveals that total North American traffic by visitors per minute on Cyber Monday was up more than half, so far compared to normal traffic trends for a Monday.

As of noon, the Web sites tracked were drawing nearly 3.3 million visitors per minute, surpassing last year's Cyber Monday peak of 3.1 million visitors per minute. "However, we still haven't reached the peak yet," Donovan said.

Overall, comScore Networks estimates total holiday-related buying on the Internet to jump 24 percent to more than $24 billion.

Some industry analysts speculate that in-store shortages of the year's hottest products, like Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii gaming consoles and well as T.M.X. Elmo from Fisher-Price, will also boost traffic and sales at many sites such as eBay where those products have popped up for auction.

Overall, PS3, Wii and Elmo were among the top 15 product searches on Yahoo Shopping, according to Chris Saito, the company's vice president of products. Elmo was placed at No. 13 on the list.

Even though Yahoo Shopping experienced a "record" day on Black Friday, Saito said he's not worried that the strong Friday and weekend patterns would have eaten into Monday's momentum for the site.

While Cyber Monday typically earns all the hype, experts point out that it's the Monday before Christmas that tends to really be the busiest eCommerce shopping day of the year.

Saito said he anticipates Cyber Monday and the following two Mondays to be equally as busy.

Generally speaking, what are the hot categories for holiday shoppers? "Over the last few years, books, music and movie DVDs and electronics used to be the biggest sellers. More recently, clothing, shoes, jewelry, home and garden and furniture have also emerged as popular categories," Saito said.

Wal-Mart, not yet done with its holiday price slashing, marked "Cyber Monday" by unveiling a 5-day sales blitz available exclusively for shoppers on its Web site.

From Monday through Friday, the retailer has set discounts on a variety of electronics, jewelry, toys and clothing. The deals include a 42-inch Hitachi plasma HDTV for $1,198.00, Philips 3 MP digital camera for $49.00, Kodak V570 5 MP digital camera for $218.00, cashmere scarves for $16.88 and a 2-karat diamond bracelet for $998.00.

The holiday shopping season got off to a running start, according to surveys released over the weekend, though it was still unclear how that will impact retailers' profits.

More than 140 million shoppers hit the stores on Black Friday weekend, spending an average of $360.15, up 18.9 percent from last year's $302.81, estimated the National Retail Federation (NRF).

A ShopperTrak survey estimated a 6 percent sales increase overall for Friday alone, to $8.9 billion. Wal-Mart sparked initial concerns when it released a disappointing November sales forecast last Saturday. It estimated that November sales fell 0.1 percent at its U.S. stores open at least a year - the forecast included sales on Black Friday.

Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, J.C. Penney and other major retailers will release final November sales reports Thursday. Stores enjoyed big crowds around the country on Black Friday, so called because it's when retailers are said to move out of the red (operating at a loss) and into the black.

November and December account for as much as half of retailers' profits and sales.

"Every year, consumers have greater expectations for doorbuster specials, forcing retailers to raise the bar," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin in a statement. "This year, stores did not disappoint."

However, the NRF anticipates holiday sales will grow five percent to $457.4 billion, slower than 2005's 6.1 percent increase.

Source: CNN Money

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