A client recently asked me about “Cyber Monday” - is it really the biggest day of the year for online retail?

The image of millions of Americans eagerly rushing to their web browsers on Monday morning is striking (and, truth be told, a little comical). Critics point out that Cyber Monday is kind of a meaningless term. Next Monday won’t be the highest revenue day of the Internet shopping season. It won’t generate the greatest amount of traffic for many retailers. In fact even the name “Cyber Monday” is completely unknown to most shoppers!

Those quibbles miss the point, though. Of course Cyber Monday is a marketing tactic. Shop.org, the online association within the National Retail Federation, coined the term and has been actively promoting the concept. The point is to raise awareness of Internet retail, excite shoppers, and rally the industry around a kick-off to their most important selling season. When you think about it, isn’t that exactly what Black Friday is, too?

We all enjoy the wacky stories of avid shoppers camped out in front of Wal-Mart or Best Buy after their Thanksgiving dinners, eager for 6am doorbusters. As Internet shopping becomes more mainstream, expect “Cyber Monday” to slowly turn into “Cyber Friday”. We’re not too far off from wacky stories of nocturnal netizens, mouse-fingers poised on the “reload” button in the dusky pre-dawn hours…

Filed under: cyber monday, online retail