The term “Cyber Monday” has been around since 2005. It refers to the Monday after Thanksgiving in the US, and came about when ecommerce experts noticed that there was a significant spike in online sales on that day. The challenge for search engine marketing specialists is to draw attention to special promotions their clients may be running to attract post-Thanksgiving business.
This spike in sales coincides with the long-standing Black Friday spike. The day after Thanksgiving traditionally represents the start of the Christmas holiday shopping spree. Store owners often offer substantial discounts on products in order to garner a slice of this market. The Black Friday sales are often chaotic, and sometimes generate more money than post-Christmas sales.
Many commentators think there is a direct correlation between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There is a recognized phenomenon whereby people will call to shopping malls and stores to view goods they are interested in. They can check them out for weight, color, appearance and so on, or they can even get the chance to test them out in the store.
However, instead of buying the product in a store, they can go online to try to find the products they are interested in at a lower price than the stores can offer. This may well explain the phenomenon that is Cyber Monday. Another remarkable feature of this day is that, according to the digital research and metrics specialist, comScore, over half the purchases are made from workplace computers.
The increase in Cyber Monday sales figures since the phenomenon was first noted has been sensational. Research by comScore shows that sales have risen from $610 in 2006 to an astonishing $1.735 billion in 2013. This rise is all the more intriguing when more and more employers are taking punitive actions against employees found using workplace computers to conduct private business.
Despite the efforts by employers to prevent employees carrying out online purchases during working hours, it is clear that the amount of money spent online on Cyber Monday and the period leading up to Christmas will continue to rise. That is why so many businesses that trade exclusively online, or those that have both physical and online sales operations, are engaging search engine marketing specialists to tap into this lucrative market.
While search engine marketing needs to focus on driving traffic to websites, IT departments need to take into account the way the modern surfers access the internet. The explosion in smartphone usage continues, and it is estimated that at least one-third of purchases will be made this year from phones rather than traditional computers.
This makes it imperative for those who want to win a share of the Cyber Monday sales to ensure their sites are adapted to leverage mobile technology. Effectively, it is becoming increasingly more important to have responsive web design or at least two versions of a commercial website in place, one for desktop and laptop computers, and the other for smartphones. As more and more businesses do this, we will continue to see huge rises in Cyber Monday sales figures.
If your website design isn’t able to handle traffic from both laptops and smartphones, contact Convergent1 today and learn what we can do for your success.
