BOSTON — After offering online deals for days, retailers are rolling out even more promotions for Cyber Monday, hoping to keep people buying stuff on their smartphones or computers.
Shoppers are expected to spend $6.6 billion on Cyber Monday, up more than 16 percent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, the research arm of software maker Adobe. And more people will be picking up their phones to shop: Web traffic from smartphones and tablets is expected to top desktop computers for the first time this year, Adobe said.
Many people are opting out of the push and shove of Black Friday sales just one day after Thanksgiving, and instead are enjoying the sales from the comfort of their own homes.
A trends expert for retailmenot.com said the two sales are turning into one.
“Nowadays, what we’re seeing is Black Friday and Cyber Monday being merged,” Sara Skirboll said. “So, instead of Black Friday being its own holiday, and Cyber Monday being its own holiday, we’re starting to see it being called Cyber Week or the 5 Days of Savings.”
Also, don’t worry if you work Monday and can’t surf the web for the best online deals.
“Cyber Monday is not just the Monday after Thanksgiving,” Skirboll said. “You are going to start to see deals on Sunday, for instance, and even after Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, even as late as Thursday and Friday.”
This Black Friday, American shoppers spent a record $5.4 billion online, which is 17 percent more than last year.
Some experts said that Cyber Monday could be even bigger than that, with as much as $6 billion in online sales.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Cox Media Group
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