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Online shopping on the rise this Cyber Monday

Delaware Public Media

 

According to the marketing firm Adobe Digital Insights, this Cyber Monday is expected to be the largest online shopping day in history. 

 

Cyber Monday sales have quadrupled since it began in 2005.

 

And Black Friday 2015 was the first time more people shopped online than in store.

 

Professor of fashion studies at the University of Delaware, Jaehee Jung, said she expects the upward trend of online sales to continue.

 

"Many consumers go to retail stores for browsing and leisure but with no intention to buy," she said. 

 

Jung said most stores have inadvertently become showrooms for their online stores.

 

But while online sales are rising, all sales during the weekend after Thanksgiving are dropping.

 

Last year’s national sales totals from Black Friday to Cyber Monday were down $1 billion from 2014.

 

Jung said the drop in sales isn’t because less people are shopping. It’s because they’re finding bargains as soon as Halloween.

 

 

“Many retailers offer great deals way before Thanksgiving so there’s no reason to wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday,” Jung said.

 

 

Jung said retailers are starting to spread bargains across the entire holiday season because they’re competing for customers who have become increasingly savvy searching for deals on their smartphones.

 

Smartphone sales accounted for more than half of all online sales during Cyber Monday last year.

 

According to a Chinese study, half of all sales in that country are done by phone.

 

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