Is Cyber Monday Worth the Wait?

By Alex Long

     Cyber Monday began in around 2005 when the National Retail Federation coined the term after noticing a spike in online purchases the Monday after Thanksgiving. This spike is explained by the fact that back in 2005, high speed internet was not readily available. Consumers would wait until they got to work on Monday after the long break to take advantage of their high speed internet and begin online shopping. Online retailers took advantage of this spike in purchases and began to introduce sales as a part of Cyber Monday. However, now that internet is accessible almost anywhere, anytime, is it worth it to wait until Cyber Monday to make purchases?

      It seems as if the answer is no. Amazon typically begins their Cyber Monday sale 10 days in advance. In addition to that, the flood of consumers purchasing products online causes a back up in retailers. In past years, Amazon has had difficulty getting purchases to their consumers on time due to the overflow. People also encounter a lot of merchandise being sold out due to the flood of purchases. Senior Olivia Paregol shared, “It's too difficult to shop on Cyber Monday. Everything is always sold out, and you don't even know if the clothes are going to fit.” Recent studies have shown that the best deals are actually on Thanksgiving day itself, with prices increasing from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

     Cyber Monday is becoming less and less significant through the years. Further proof that Cyber Monday is becoming less important is that some teenagers don't even know what Cyber Monday is, both Luke Gezelle and Maria Collins asking, “What is Cyber Monday?” when questioned about the topic. A recent survey has also found that consumers are 42% less inclined to shop on Cyber Monday this year. This is because good deals online are no longer exclusive to Cyber Monday. Retailers have slowly extended the holiday, some beginning the sales Sunday night, or even continuing them throughout the week. Interestingly enough, the introduction of Cyber Monday has not affected Black Friday shopping, as the percent of sales on Black Friday is still fluctuating in the same fashion as it was prior to the introduction of Cyber Monday.