Once upon a time, the Monday following Thanksgiving weekend spelled big business for online retailers, as consumers hopped en mass onto their employers' fast Web connections to do some serious holiday
shopping. Today, however, with more than 60% of U.S. homes now sporting high-speed Internet access, more people are flipping through those online catalogs at home, according to Ken Cassar, vice
president of Nielsen's online research division. As a result, more online stores aren't waiting until Monday to get the proverbial party going. They're throwing their own Black Friday events.
Amazon.com, for one, is doing deals every day this week.
Still, people still shop at work, away from the prying eyes of family members, and marketers seem determined to keep the dream of
Cyber Monday alive. "Retailers liked the marketing focus," Cassar tells The Los Angeles Times. "It remains a big shopping day, but it's now fueled more by retailer marketing and promotion."
Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times »
