Are you ready?

It’s heyday for bargain hunters as well as retailers. Black Friday has dawned upon us and Cyber Monday is inching closer.

As I write this post, I can only imagine shoppers pounding the pavement to clinch the best deals being offered by brick-and-mortar retailers. Not be undone by their offline counterparts, online retailers will be getting ready to kick-start the shopping extravaganza by offering lucrative discounts.

Last year shoppers spent millions of dollars in online shopping on ‘Cyber Monday’. Online retailers would be hoping that the trend would continue this year, against all financial odds. According to a press release by Shopzilla, “Cyber Monday has become so famous for its good deals that many consumers prefer waiting until Monday to shop online rather than heading out to the stores for the traditional Black Friday deals.
Even the browsers - not shoppers - are using Cyber Monday to strategically prowl the web for promotions and savings.”

‘Cyber Monday’ may not be as famous as black Friday but many Americans are expected to start their holiday shopping on this very day. The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was coined not long ago, in November 2005, by National Retail Federation’s online division Shop.org. Many critics believe that the term ‘Cyber Monday’ was coined to create buzz around online shopping. “It’s a starting point. It’s a kickoff point where many retailers have special deals and bargains. Retailers are having special Cyber Monday sales, and the way I see it, if retailers are attaching a sale and calling it Cyber Monday, it’s true”, said Scott Krugman, spokesperson for the National Retail Federation.

I am not writing this post to debate the authenticity of this term (I am too tempted to carry on though) but to share some information that would help online retailers to make the most of this festive shopping season. Google’s official post Cyber Monday is next Monday details some fantastic tips to achieve maximum benefit from your Adword campaign. Yahoo isn’t far behind; The Monday You’ll Actually Enjoy enlists four strategies online retailers could implement to derive maximum benefit.

Cyber Monday may or may not be the busiest online shopping day but would definitely get the ball rolling. Get ready or be ready to be left behind.