Cyber Monday shoppers provide surprise sales boost

Like their counterparts at the malls, online merchants finally got some relief with the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, spurred by a bevy of deals and free shipping offers. But the stronger-than-expected bump in online sales Monday couldn't cancel out a lackluster November.

By Anne D'Innocenzio

4 Dec 2008

Internet research company comScore said Wednesday that online sales spiked 15% to US$846 million on "Cyber Monday", which was named by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to describe the surge in online spending when customers returned to work after Thanksgiving and shopped from their desks.

Meanwhile, Nielsen Online, a service of the Nielsen Co., reported a 10% increase in Web traffic to online shopping sites on "Cyber Monday", fueled by beauty items, toys and video games. Ken Cassar, vice president of industry insights for Nielsen Online, said in a statement that he expects Monday, 15 December to be the peak day for online shopping traffic.

Read the full article here.

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