Every year, Cyber Monday signifies the high water mark for online shopping across the United States. In today’s post, we pay homage to 90’s hip-hop heroes, and more importantly, call attention to four key takeaways from our favorite e-holiday, Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday lived up to its reputation
Despite being essentially an “invented” consumer holiday, Cyber Monday has gained legitimacy with every passing year. Billed as the largest online shopping day of the year, this year’s Cyber Monday did not disappoint — the number of US-based visits to the top 500 retail sites increased 16% on Cyber Monday 2010, according to data from Experian Hitwise. Amazon was the top retail site receiving traffic on Cyber Monday, followed by Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and JCPenney.
Billed as the largest online shopping day of the year, this year’s Cyber Monday did not disappoint — the number of US-based visits to the top 500 retail sites increased 16% on Cyber Monday 2010.
Big name brands took better advantage of Cyber Monday this time around
Among the top 20 websites, Macy’s (44%), The Apple Store (41%), Victoria’s Secret (28%) and JCPenney (26%) saw the biggest traffic increases compared to 2009. “Walmart” was the top search term sending traffic to the top 500 retail sites on Cyber Monday, and “Walmart” and “Target” were the top two branded search terms used in conjunction with the term “Cyber Monday.”
Apple has some sort of magic touch with American consumers
iPod Touch and iPad were the two top product searches on Cyber Monday among the top 500 retail sites. What makes this fact especially intriguing is that neither of these products were discounted on Cyber Monday itself. Rather, both were discounted on Black Friday only, while Cyber Monday sales were limited to Apple accessories.
Equally bizarre, this accessory-only sale on Cyber Monday was essentially identical to the one Apple did in the prior year… yet traffic to Apple.com still increased 41% YOY, as we mentioned before. What caused the spike in traffic this year is worth anybody’s best guess. (iPad envy? The positive PR from finally getting The Beatles catalog on iTunes? Free Steve Jobs black turtlenecks with every iPod Touch sold? The possibilities are endless.)
Consumers are becoming more sophisticated online shoppers
As consumers become more accustomed to shopping online, comparison shopping and deal hunting play an even bigger role in the holiday shopping season. According to Experian Hitwise data from last week, 44% of referrals to retail sites during last week came from search and cross-shopping across other retailers.