What is Cyber Monday？ - Alibaba Seller

Cyber Monday is a business term that refers to one of the biggest shopping days of the year, where customers get amazing deals. This sales day was made after business owners realized there was always a spike in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday is currently the most significant e-commerce day and a great day for retailers to sell their stock.

What is the origin of Cyber Monday? How does it differ from Black Friday? How can you prepare for this day to benefit fully? We answer all your questions in this article.

What is Cyber Monday?

On first thought, Cyber Monday sounds like something related to tech. However, that’s not it; it’s a day similar to Black Friday because retailers get a lot of sales, and consumers enjoy great bargains. Cyber Monday has been around for more than a decade, and it was initially created as an alternative to the brick-and-mortar deals of Black Friday.

Cyber Monday occurs on the first Monday after Thanksgiving in late November or early December. It’s a 24-hour sales event created by businesses to entice consumers to shop online by offering huge discounts, promo codes, bonuses, and great deals.

Understanding Cyber Monday

There are always days on the calendar that stand out more than the rest for business owners and retailers regarding sales. This has been Cyber Monday for a while now, as retailers offer huge discounts and slashed prices on different items. Cyber Monday provides consumers the opportunity to get great deals and retailers the opportunity to sell their stock before the year runs out.

Currently, Cyber Monday is a major sales day in the Christmas season and is one of the most important days of the year for retailers. Some deals offered during this time are usually on home and fashion items. Also, Cyber Monday focuses on online sales, making it a great day for customers to shop from the comfort of their homes while avoiding the queues in the stores.

Origins of Cyber Monday

A fun fact: before Cyber Monday became a thing, the Monday after Thanksgiving had always been a popular shopping day, and online sales always reached its peak.

Consumers often visit the websites of their favorite stores on the first workday after Thanksgiving weekend to find deals they might have missed during the Black Friday sales. In 2005, the National Retail Federation thought it a good idea to make the day an official shopping event and named it Cyber Monday.¹ And then. Cyber Monday was born.

Cyber Monday was coined as an extension of Black Friday when people continued to shop online after Thanksgiving. It is currently the biggest online shopping event of the year and offers huge sales opportunities for online sellers.

Cyber Monday milestones

Cyber Monday has become synonymous with huge sales in online stores across the United States and other parts of the world. There was a huge impact almost immediately after it originated. In 2011, CNBC reported that Black Friday and Cyber Monday had merged to become a single Thanksgiving shopping experience.² Also, many retailers extend Cyber Monday deals to several days, which usually last 24 hours.

Some of the major milestones recorded by Cyber Monday include:

1. Cyber Monday becomes global

   The United States is the only country that celebrates Thanksgiving, so Cyber Monday was more of a shopping event targeted at the US audience. This has changed as Cyber Monday has become a global shopping event, with countries like Canada, Germany, Netherlands, China, and the UK currently holding and advertising Cyber Monday deals.

2. Increased sales

   Also, Cyber Monday has many record-breaking achievements, making it one of the days that retailers and consumers look forward to. The first Cyber Monday originated in 2005 as a strategy to promote e-commerce sales when the industry was this new. In 2005, when it first launched, sales revenue from Cyber Monday was around $484 million. In 2019, Cyber Monday sales revenue grew to a whopping $9.4 billion!³ And when people thought Cyber Monday couldn't exceed 2019’s record, sales were up to $11.3 billion in 2021.⁴

3. Cyber Monday became Cyber Week

   Another significant milestone of Cyber Monday is its becoming Cyber Week. This started in 2009 after Walmart decided to offer 5 days of Cyber Deals. Other retailers joined in by extending their dales from the Monday only into the following week.

   

Cyber Monday Vs. Black Friday

Some people still get confused about Cyber Monday and Black Friday because those two days are close to Thanksgiving. Also, both events chase the same pool of customers: people looking for amazing deals for their holiday shopping.

Setting aside the similarities, let’s distinguish between the two big shopping days:

• The major difference between those two days is the time they take place. Cyber Monday occurs the nearest Monday after Thanksgiving, while Black Friday is the closest Friday after Thanksgiving.
• Cyber Monday focuses more on discounts on home goods and soft goods like fashion, furnishings, and home decor items. Don’t be confused by the word “Cyber” because Black Friday remains the best day for good deals on tech. Black Friday is great for electronics deals like mobile devices, home office equipment, PCs, and TVs.
• Cyber Monday welcomes online shopping only, while Black accommodates in-store and online shopping deals.
• In addition, Black Friday hasn't been around for as long as Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday became a thing in 2005, while Black Friday has been around since the 1950s.

Meanwhile, it’s also important to note that nowadays, Black Friday and Cyber Monday often bleed into each other to form a single shopping event. This is especially so because retailers extended their Black Friday sales into the beginning of Cyber Monday.

How to prepare for Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is an important day for retailers, and given its closeness to Black Friday (another big sales day), preparing your business for this day is recommended. How do you stay above your competitors and ensure you reap the full potential of this global shopping event? Here are some tips to prepare as a retailer:

Get logistics right

If you plan to participate in Cyber Monday, keep in mind that you will be getting a lot of demand. This means you need a lot of staff to handle demand and dispatch riders to ensure customers get their goods on time.

Choose the right e-commerce platform

E-commerce shopping is growing in importance, and you should know that these platforms aren't created equal. Some e-commerce platforms get more sales during shopping events like Cyber Monday, so it’s best to research to ensure you sell on the right platform.

Optimize your website

If you are selling via your website, it’s essential to optimize your website to ensure it can handle high demand without shutting down. Also, ensure your website works well across all devices, especially mobile devices. IBM noted since 2012 that, smartphones were becoming very popular among people who shop on Cyber Monday.⁵

Plan promotions early

Planning promotions early will ensure you are not caught off-guarded. Also, planning your promotion earls will help you create buzz and marketing around your upcoming deals. The more buzz around your Cyber Monday offers, the more people hear about it. Take advantage of email marketing, social media, website ads, and gorgeous visual assets to build a buzz around your offers and increase sales volume.

Stock up

One of the things to prepare for Cyber Monday is to ensure you can handle the demand. You will only enjoy the massive sales opportunity if you have enough products in stock to meet customers’ demands. Reach out to suppliers, manufacturers, and dropshippers early to prepare for the sales spike of Cyber Monday. Bear in mind that you will have a lot of shoppers, so make adequate preparations to meet the demands of your customers.

Offer exclusive deals

An excellent tip for preparing for Cyber Monday is to offer exclusive deals that customers will find mouth-watering. You can use Black Friday to research products that customers are demanding and use that to inform the items you slash their prices.

Sell on Alibaba.com

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One of the tips to prepare for shopping events like Cyber Monday is selling via an already-known platform like Alibaba.com, where customers are likely to browse for amazing deals. Ready to sell on one of the biggest B2B platforms in the world and benefit from the already existing customers? Join Alibaba.com today!