Black Friday and Cyber Monday Bring Much Needed Retail Cheer

Picture courtesy - Reuters

Silicon Valley Business Journal reports, that retailers reported strong holiday sales on Black Friday, through the weekend and more is expected for so-called Cyber Monday. Sales on Black Friday were up 6.6 percent from a year ago, according to the consulting firm ShopperTrak, compared with only a 0.3 percent gain in 2010. For instance analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray said on Monday that Apple Inc sold about 15 iPads per hour at Apple Stores on Black Friday, a 68 percent increase from last year. 

As New York Time reports, cyber Monday may have started as a made-up occasion to give underdog e-commerce sites jealous of Black Friday a day of their own, but it has become an undeniably real thing surprising even the people who invented it. NY Times further reports that, last year was the first time that the Monday after Thanksgiving was the biggest online shopping day of the year by sales, and the first day that online spending passed $1 billion, according to comScore, a research company that measures Web use.  

Reuters report confirms the trend for this year, online sales reached $1.251 billion on Monday, up 22 percent from the same day last year, said comScore Inc, a closely watched Web tracking firm. IBM Benchmark, a unit of International Business Machines Corp, put the increase at 33 percent compared with Cyber Monday in 2010. Department stores saw online sales surge 60 percent this Cyber Monday, compared with last year, while sales of home goods rose 68 percent, IBM Benchmark added.

And this trend may long continue to the delight of retailers as Matt Warman reports over in the Telegraph, Apps are driving Christmas Toy sales.Sales of app-inspired toys and games increased 65 per cent week-on-week in the run-up to Christmas, John Lewis says. Elaine Hooper, John Lewis toys and books buyer said that “App toys are one of the fastest growing toy categories ever seen.”She claimed that “alongside other technology gifts including miniature digital cameras, camcorders and electronic learning tablets” there were now new types of toy. “Moshi Monsters and Angry Birds were barely on radar last year but are on every child’s Christmas wish list for 2011. We sold two app-inspired products in 2010 compared to the current 14”.