Don’t believe all the Cyber Monday hype

Here comes Cyber Monday, the day when the media tells us that consumers, frustrated by not finding all the deals they wanted at brick and mortar stores over the Black Friday weekend, return to work and finish up their shopping online.

To read all the news accounts today, you’d think it was a big deal.

It’s not. At least not anymore. While there will surely be a slight uptick in online business on this Monday after Thanksgiving, the rotten economy and the fact that most people now have broadband at home and no longer need the high speed Internet connections at work to access the net are likely to temper the Cyber Monday rush.

Besides, for several years now the really, really big online shopping day isn’t Cyber Monday at all. It comes a week or so before Christmas,  likely to be December 18 (a Friday) this year,  generally the last days consumers can order online and still expect delivery by Christmas Eve (a Thursday this year) with standard shipping.

Overall, online shopping is expected to be better this year, but only a tad. The official comScore 2009 holiday season forecast is that online retail spending for the November – December period will reach $28.8 billion, representing a 3 percent gain versus year ago. This modest growth rate represents an improvement compared to last season’s 3-percent decline, but remains well below the growth rates of 20 percent or higher seen in previous years.

“The beginning of the online holiday shopping season has gotten off to a positive start, which is a nice improvement over the slightly negative growth rates we’ve experienced through much of 2009,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “Nonetheless, online spending this holiday season will likely be tempered by the stark reality of 10-percent unemployment and less disposable income in many consumers’ wallets.”

More than 60% of all homes in the U.S. now have broadband connections according to Nielsen Co.’s online research division. Online retailers know this and have been running sales since early last week.

PriceGrabber.com did a survey last week and found that more than half of the participants planned to shop online on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Of those, two-thirds expect to make purchases on Monday (80% will on Friday, and half will on both days). Seems to prove my point that Cyber Monday is no big deal anynore.

Retailers are doing all they can, though, to stoke the Cyber Monday myth.  The National Retail Federation’s Shop.org unit alsodid a survey of its members and found that   87% would run Cyber Monday promotions, including free shipping and one-day sales, up 3% over last year.

Cyber Monday? Not so much. What we need is a catchy name for Dec. 18th. Because that last shipment day always changes, depending on when Christmas falls, we can’t use its day of the week name. So coming up with a catchy name for the last-minute online rush day is hard.

How about….????