Best Buy Cyber Monday

Best Buy Cyber Monday, As hundreds of Americans line up outside big-box stores across the United States today, an annual Thanksgiving tradition that will start before some families have even had the chance to clear the leftover turkey from the table, a growing number of Canadians are getting into the action. More retailers will be launching special online sales this weekend as well as in-store promotions, a sign the yearly shopping frenzy is increasingly taking hold here. The major online sales have grown dramatically in recent years, and are expected to start as early as today and continue until early next week, a phenomenon often referred to as Cyber Monday.

A new survey released by the Bank of Montreal found that 46 per cent of respondents said they would do their holiday shopping online this year, up from 41 per cent last year.

“As more Canadian retailers mirror U.S. sales promotions, there is the potential for significant activity on Cyber Monday. More than ever, Canadian shoppers are taking notice and adjusting their retail calendar,” Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist of BMO Capital Markets, said in a statement.

Many Canadian retailers are hoping they can cash in by making Cyber Monday a big deal this year, with many using social media to promote their sales and woo customers.

Getting in early, Air Canada already announced Thursday morning a 15-per-cent-off sale, with the company sending a tweet that says “Cyber Monday comes early!” The Gap released details of its sales plans on Facebook, while Best Buy Canada used Twitter to announce it will be participating in Cyber Monday for the first time this year.

Online forums and other sites are abuzz with members exchanging information about the latest sales and how to score big deals, an indication that this could be the year online sales timed to coincide with U.S. Thanksgiving could become a major event.

Best Buy Cyber Monday

Best Buy Cyber Monday, (AFP) – As stores roll out the offers and preen displays ahead of “Black Friday” — the start of the US holiday shopping season, there are high hopes for a bumper sales this year.

After a brutal few years for retailers, experts are predicting that maybe this year will be better than the last, with increased sales, albeit at levels still far off their 2007 peak.

“This holiday season presents a consumer with a little more spending power than last year,” said Scott Krugman of the National Retail Federation pointing to the ongoing economic recovery.

The federation expects this season’s sales to rise 2.3 percent from last year, with 138 million Americans expected to raid the stores over the coming weekend.

The starting gun will for the rush will come on Black Friday — the day after this Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday — when Americans rummage through racks and bins laden with heavily discounted goods.

“The consumer is ready to shop as long as retailers meet their expectations in terms of price,” Krugman said during a conference call organized by Dow Jones Indexes.

Electronic good are expected to show the sharpest rise in sales, as tablets and laptops are first on consumers’ shopping lists, according to a survey conducted by Retrevo.com.

The average household spend this season was set to rise from 690 dollars from 680 last year, the NRF said.

Online shopping is also expected to boost sales.

Technology research firm Forrester forecast that online retail sales will this year grow 16 percent from 2009 to 51.7 billion dollars as next “Cyber Monday” continues to grow.

“For now at least, we are seeing some decent growth numbers and while levels are not yet back to 2007,” credit card company MasterCard said in a report.

“The year-over-year growth stats are helping to get the holiday season off to an encouraging start.”

Best Buy Cyber Monday

Best Buy Cyber Monday, (AP) – Not all Americans tucked into turkey with their families on Thanksgiving. Some were out shopping, hitting sales ahead of the crowds expected Friday.

After a year of cautious spending and worry over an uncertain economy and high unemployment, more stores this year extended hours into Thanksgiving Day, a day when stores are traditionally closed.

Many grumble about the relentless march of commercialism creeping into the holiday. But at least some shoppers took the bait.

While crowds appeared relatively light compared with the weekend ahead, the extended hours drew in overseas visitors, those who have to work Friday and some who couldn’t resist a good deal.

Sears, Kmart and some Sports Authority, Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores were among those open Thursday.

At an Old Navy in Lutherville, Md., Brenda Tarver, 65, a retired postal employee from Baltimore, was dragged out of the house by her daughters, but was finding good deals on clothing.

“They’ve got good prices and a variety of items. A lot of things are 50 percent off,” she said.

Willy Gerelbest, 45, a counselor from Brooklyn, was shopping at Kmart in New York for sneakers on sale for $9.99.

“I saw the advertising and just wanted to check it out,” he said. “Tomorrow I have to work.”

David Friedman, president of marketing for Sears Holdings Corp. said the decision to open 7 a.m.-noon on Thanksgiving Day stemmed from positive response to a similar “early Black Friday” sale in November, as well as success with Kmart, which Sears also owns and has been open on Thanksgiving for 19 years.

Workers will earn holiday pay and still be home in time for a Thanksgiving meal, Friedman said.

At the Sears store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., the largest U.S. shopping and entertainment complex, sales were fueled by a charity walk at the mall.

The walk — and a good sale — drew Helen Schultz, of White Bear Lake, Minn. She bought a 19-inch RCA LCD HDTV for $129.99, saving $70. But she said wouldn’t have bought it Thursday if she hadn’t been there for the charity walk.

“I don’t think shopping should be done on Thanksgiving,” Schultz said. “But they need to make money.”

Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch said the company decided to open at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day because reaction was so positive to the stores’ midnight opening last year. Before that, stores opened at 5 a.m. on Friday. He expects brisk sales of hot toys like Santa-ma-jig, a green and red singing doll.

“Customers lined up at 8 p.m. on last year. They wanted us to open earlier,” he said.

A similar promotional blitz greeted online shoppers Thursday, though the holiday isn’t a bonanza there, either.

Last year, consumers spent about $300 million online on Thanksgiving, compared with $887 million on Cyber Monday, according to comScore.

According to Akamai Technologies, which tracks traffic to 270 retail sites, traffic peaked at 11 a.m. and was up about 14 percent from Wednesday.

Early data from Coremetrics, an IBM company, from early afternoon showed that online Thanksgiving Day sales were up about 10 percent over Thanksgiving a year ago. The average order size was down 18 percent from a year ago to $130.50, but that figures was getting bigger as the day went on.

John Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of Best Buy Inc.’s website, said this year the company reached out to its frequent online shoppers and gave them early access to deals.

“Thanksgiving Day is a day when we are seeing more and more consumers choose online as a place to begin their research and actually transact,” he said.

With nearly 15 million unemployed in the U.S., some store workers were grateful for the holiday pay or extra time off that comes with working on a holiday.

Bryce Humerick, 21, of Towson, Md., a sales associate at the Old Navy store in Lutherville, said he was happy to be making time-and-a-half.

“I don’t mind,” he said. “My Thanksgiving dinner isn’t until later.”

Not everyone was so pleased.

In the hardware department of the Mall of America’s Sears, John McDonough had volunteered to work, but he bemoaned the increasing commercialization of the holiday season in general.

“It’s a crying shame,” he said. “What has corporate America done to us?”

Sarah Brumfield in Lutherville, Md., and Steve Karnowski in Bloomington, Minn., contributed to this report.