By Erin Reilly
The holiday shopping season is in full swing with millions of people expected to participate in Cyber Monday.
According to the National Retail Federation, 69 percent of Americans – 164 million – planned on shopping during Thanksgiving weekend. About 78 million of those people plan on shopping on Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday has been increasing in popularity in recent years. According to Adobe Analytics, it is expected to have the highest growth in revenue (16.5 percent since 2014) of the five-day major shopping weekend including Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Super Sunday and Cyber Monday. It is also predicted to have the highest revenue of the entire weekend with $6.6 billion. The day with the second highest revenue is Black Friday with $5 billion.
Cyber Monday, and the rest of the weekend’s popularity, stems from discounts and traditions. According to the NRF, 66 percent of Americans say they shop during this weekend because of the deals while 26 percent say they shop because they consider it a tradition.
For those who shop because of the deals, Cyber Monday has great discounts on toys. According to Adobe, the average discount for toys will be 19.1 percent. Meanwhile, Black Friday has better discounts on televisions, tablets, jewelry and appliances and Thanksgiving’s best deals are on computers, sporting goods, apparel and video games.
The National Retail Federation’s expectations for Thanksgiving weekend shopping show Cyber Monday as the second most popular day.
These deals are popular among most Americans, but they can be especially enticing to college students who do not have a lot of money.
“It’s great because I don’t have much money to spend on gifts for my family,” Julia Brown, a Quinnipiac sophomore said. “So, if I couldn’t get these kinds of deals, I wouldn’t be able to get them that much.”
The convenience of online shopping that Cyber Monday offers can also be very appealing.
“Black Friday is way too crazy for me,” Brown said. “The stores are always so nuts and crowded. It’s just so much easier for me to buy things online.”
But Black Friday is not limited to in-store shopping. Many people got their online shopping done on Friday as well.
“I’m not really shopping (on Cyber Monday) because I got all of it done on Friday,” David Rivera, a freshman, said. “I didn’t go to the mall or anything, though. I just did it all online.”
Rivera explained that the deals he sees on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are virtually the same.
“So, in that case, I’d rather just do all of the shopping before I have to come back to school,” Rivera said. “My Mondays are busy, so I don’t have much free time to shop, but I’m sure that won’t stop other students from shopping in class.”