Cyber Monday

What is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is the term used to describe the online commerce transactions that happen on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It comes right after Black Friday, which hosts the biggest annual offers in traditional retail.

The original intent of Cyber Monday was to complement the Thanksgiving weekend and extend the Christmas shopping that starts on Black Friday, giving ecommerce a boost. The term was coined in 2005, and that same year saw substantial growth across 77% of US ecommerce stores.

Since it was created, both the term and the practice have gone global, spreading to ecommerce stores in most countries.

How to prepare your ecommerce store for Cyber Monday

• Optimise your site for mobile devices: mobile searches have grown enormously — make sure your ecommerce platform is responsive and works seamlessly across every device.
• Make sure you can handle the demand: whether you ship products directly or make your own, you need to be ready for the sudden sales spike and avoid running out of stock earlier than planned.
• Build suspense before the sale starts: you can build suspense around your offers through teasers, product descriptions, email marketing campaigns or social media. The idea is to build demand that helps you grow your customer base and sales volume even before the offers go live.
• Invest in paid advertising: many customers hold off on their online purchases to take advantage of Cyber Monday discounts, and a large share of those sales come from paid search ads — in these cases, customers search with buying intent rather than to browse. Research the right keywords to attract the right customers.
• Think through your distribution strategy: distribute your Cyber Monday offers beyond just email marketing and social media. Look for other ways to reach potential customers — forums, Facebook groups, deal aggregators and all the places we usually overlook but which can deliver strong results.