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How to find the best Cyber Monday deals:
Bottom Line: The fine tech folks at Gizmodo have a brilliant resource available for up to date (near real time) updated Cyber Monday shopping deals. Like Black Friday deals many Cyber Monday deals are time released and limited to a certain quantity of an item. Gizmodo’s tool (in the link below) allows you to search through almost all major retailers deals to find the best prices on what you’re interested in. Another bonus Gizmodo’s effort today… They rank the true value of each deal vs. the usual sales price for those items online. Happy shopping!:
http://gizmodo.com/5961045/all-the-cyber-monday-deals-2012
Small business Saturday – now most important day of the season for holiday sales:
Bottom Line: Many associate Small Business Saturday as an American Express only venture. That would mean that if you don’t have an Amex you don’t participate. While Amex does offer a good deal for consumers on Small Business Saturday (with which we participate as a partner) it’s actually a concept that isn’t specific to any particular company.
Small business Saturday came about as a concept that would be designed for small business benefit during the initial weekend of the holiday shopping season. American Express added marketing attention and incentive for its members to participate in recent years. We now know its working. For 36% of all B to C small business, Small business Saturday is now the biggest sales day of the year (it previously had been Black Friday which is the biggest day for 24% of small businesses).
This serves as an opportunity for me to share a state with you that’s important to consider. The economic impact of a dollar spent at a small business is significantly greater than national options. The Chamber of Commerce study I participated in about a decade ago demonstrated that a dollar spent in a local business would have $7 of economic impact in the community. That does more than double money spend with a national company. If you haven’t already I strongly encourage you to patronize at least one small business during the holiday shopping season.
Impressive
Bottom Line: Maybe next year Thanksgiving dinner will actually take place in line waiting for a store to open. While many complained about Black Friday moving in on Thanksgiving – we bought into it. Literally… Here are the important and interesting stats from the big official start to the holiday shopping season.
- The average increase in hours open (Thanksgiving through Sunday at
- The average increase in the amount spent by shoppers this weekend - $423 or 6% more than 2011
- The overall sales total vs. 2011 was 12.8% higher
- The total spent increased from $59.1 billion vs. $52.4 billion
But the biggest Black Friday winner of all:
Bottom Line: Online shopping. Here are other key numbers from Black Friday…
- A 1.8% decrease in spending in traditional stores but
- A 26% increase in online spending on Black Friday
- 70%+ of retailers offered Black Friday (or better) pricing online
- Largest online day of all time topping the $1 billion sales mark
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49961957
Reminder about computer health this Cyber Monday:
Bottom Line: Last week I shared the information that Black Friday is actually the biggest day for ID theft in the country. Well… Cyber Monday is also the biggest day for online financial theft as well. At issue these two elements:
- About half of all online users are using a dated browsers
- Many of us are using inferior virus protection.
Two recs for you.
- Ensure you have a completely updated browser
- If you don’t have adequate virus protection or aren’t happy with your anti-virus protection I recommend Avast . Best anti-virus software in my testing this year.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/11/25/cyber-monday-online-shopping-risks/1717637/
