Cyber Monday is November 29th, but emails started earlier.
Before I ripped off the October 31st page of my Doug the Pug calendar, sale alerts from my favorite brands began flooding my inbox. As November continued, the flood of holiday promotional emails I received started to get a little silly.
There was a Black Friday message from Macy’s on November 17th “why should you wait” offering “exclusive” early access with 20-75% off. Because, obviously, I’m special. On Nov. 23, Bath & Body Works sent a message with the subject line, “See what came early,” using a sideways-glance emoji for emphasis and extra appeal.
Then on Sunday, I received an email from one of my favorite candle companies. The subject line was “IT’S ALMOST OVER” (meaning 20% off sale) and the text was followed by him four different sad face emojis. One was a crying person and the last one was a crying cat. Yeah they really went there with cats.
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All of these emails were sent before Cyber Monday, traditionally the biggest online shopping day of the year. Adobe Analytics predicts that Cyber Monday sales for 2021 will range from $10.2 billion to $11.3 billion.
But as my email account shows, these so-called “Cyber Monday” deals have actually been around for a while, and many of them will probably still be around after it’s over. As I was writing this, I was still receiving emails advertising “Black Friday” deals.
From “Cyber Monday” to “Cyber Weekend”
“Cyber Monday isn’t just about online shopping days five to 10 years ago,” says Anand Krishnamoorthy, associate professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida. “Maybe we should look at the weekend as a whole. Instead of calling it Cyber Monday, we should call it ‘Cyber Weekend.'”
The term “Cyber Monday” was coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 after retailers noticed a spike in online sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It’s been 16 years and I think the vacation is due to the name change.
The word “cyber” itself evokes memories of dial-up Internet connections, Y2K and AOL chat rooms. It has nothing to do with today’s world where you can walk your dog and order from Amazon Prime at the same time.
This year, Adobe Analytics, which tracks e-commerce sales data for the holiday season, actually called the online shopping period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday “Cyber Week.”
According to Adobe, sales forecasts were strong throughout “Cyber Week,” but e-commerce sales flattened on Thanksgiving and actually declined for the first time on Black Friday this year.
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“If I don’t buy now, I will lose my savings.”
Thanksgiving online sales totaled $5.1 billion and Black Friday total sales totaled $8.9 billion, down slightly from $9 billion in 2020.
Vivek Pandya, lead analyst for Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement: “Shoppers are strategizing when shopping for gifts, buying much earlier in the season and being flexible about when they shop to ensure they get the best deals.”
Media reports about supply shortages and messages from retailers themselves seemed to teach consumers to shop earlier this year. said it plans to start
Carol Osborne, director of advertising programs at the University of South Florida, said she’s noticed an increased urgency in email marketing this year. She’s basically saying, “If you don’t buy now, you’ll miss out on your savings.”
“I noticed a few people saying, ‘By the way, you better hurry up,'” Osborne said. Are you getting people to buy it?”
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Whatever their motivations, preliminary shopping data seems to indicate that the strategy has worked. increase.
As I combed through my emails, I noticed that the best deals were made before Black Friday or Cyber Monday. This brand I love so much is an eco-friendly clothing company and he had 25% off on the weekend of November 19th. On Cyber Monday, it was just 20%.
Any of those could be a discount, but the question is, do you need the leggings or just want them? Are you on sale?
Most people would probably argue no, but no. But it’s the most wonderful time of the year for shopping. I think it’s time to get in the mood.
Laura Finaldi, Retail and Tourism Reporter for the Herald-Tribune, can be reached at 941-361-4951 or lfinaldi@heraldtribune.com. Follow her on Twitter and her Instagram @lauraefinaldi. Join her Sarasota-Manatee Retail News page on her Facebook at facebook.com/groups/sarasotamanateeretail/.
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