The mythical Cyber Monday, touted as ''one of the biggest shopping days of the year'' by Shop.org, will most likely be just another busy day of shopping — and nothing more. Not a day bigger than Black Friday, not even one of the top ten biggest holiday shopping events of 2007. According to market researcher ComScore Networks, Cyber Monday is the 12^th-biggest shopping day historically, not even of the season.

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	58% of shoppers do most of their online-shopping at work on Mondays, perhaps after a stressful weekend at the mall.

Instead, Cyber Monday appears to be more of a "savvy" marketing ploy to bring in more online shoppers. However, there must be some truth to the tout — and for some online retailers, Cyber Monday has proved successful.

LEGO Systems saw a rise in sales during 2004's Cyber Monday and expected to see sales rise again in 2005. Zappos.com, too saw an increase in its 2005 sales.

But according to ecommerce sites, the busiest shopping days are between December 5th and the 15^th. In 2005, when the term was coined, the busiest shopping day was December 12^th and not Cyber Monday.

In 2006, Cyber Monday was "the highest single day in retail e-commerce history and the first day ever to break the $600 million threshold," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of ComScore Networks. However, "while it was certainly an historic achievement, the online holiday shopping season is just beginning to kick into high gear. Having analyzed and reported on online sales for more than five years, we fully expect several days in the coming weeks to eclipse the spending that occurred on Cyber Monday."

ComScore Network statistics do show, however, that Mondays, nevertheless, are busy shopping days, especially around the holidays. 58% of shoppers do most of their shopping at work on Mondays, perhaps after a stressful weekend at the mall.

But according to one "etailer" on www.businessweek.com, "[I've] been etailing for six years. First heard of Cyber Monday in 2005. Was very excited. However, CNN/MSN reported on their sites 'Workers go to work to shop.' Every employer saw this and said, 'Not on my watch.' As a result, I sold absolutely nothing on Cyber Monday. It's a myth."

While another said, "I work for an online marketing company, and Black Monday is always our biggest day of the year. This year we broke our record from last year's Black Monday (the highest conversion/click-through date of 2004), suggesting these trends have been increasing each year."

If you are a company who wishes to participate in Cyber Monday, consider these marketing tips from ezinearticles.com.

• Spread it out. Instead of running a sale for only one day, run sales throughout the week.
  
  
• Create Product Bundles. "The value of a product bundle can be perceived as greater than the sum of its parts because you are conveniently creating a one stop gift."
  
  
• Free Gift Threshold above Average Order. Give buyers an incentive to buy more, and offer them a free gift when they spend X amount of money.
  
  
• Cyber Monday Promo. "If you're doing something really noteworthy, you may want to highlight it on Cyber Monday, a deal site run by Shop.org. Many prominent brands feature promotion there all year round, not just Cyber Monday."
  
  
• Random 'Blue Light' Specials. Spike curiosity and draw in repeat sales by highlighting products at random throughout the holiday season; shoppers will come back, wondering what the "special" sale of the day is.
  
  
• Send Two Reminder Emails. Send an original marketing email around Thanksgiving and then send another — just in case shoppers lose the first in the flurry of seasonal emails.
  
  
• Return Discounts. To keep customers coming back year-round, send out coupons or discounts to everyone who made a purchase.

On the net:

Cyber Monday
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday

Black Friday
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

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