Record Black Friday Online Sales Might Kill Cyber Monday

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Forget lining up at 3am—this Black Friday set a record for money spent shopping online. WWD reports that 2014 was the first time e-commerce sales surpassed $2 billion, and rose 25% from last year. The article adds that the peak shopping period was around 11am on Thanksgiving ("preempting the day's main meal"), and that 27% of transactions on Thursday came via mobile shopping.

Adobe Digital Index projects that today's Cyber Monday sales will reach $2.6 billion today. But WWD notes that Cyber Monday is being emphasized less and less as an event industry-wide, due to online promotions that begin earlier and earlier each year.

Forbes contributor Robert Hof also thinks this might be the swan song for Cyber Monday, since even the name itself is totally outdated. According to Forbes, online sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday are seeing greater growth than Cyber Monday, thanks in part to the rise of mobile shopping. WWD notes that the site Custora E-Commerce Pulse reported that mobile shopping grew to account for almost one-third of all online purchases on Black Friday.
· Online Sales Set Black Friday Record [WWD]
· Enjoy Those Cyber Monday Sales. Next Year, They May Be Gone [Forbes]
· Cyber Monday 2014 Deals: 230 Sales and Counting! [Racked]