Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday is a shopping holiday that falls on the Monday following Thanksgiving. It is a day on which retailers often offer enormous discounts to online shoppers.
United States (Observance)As a result, tens of millions of shoppers participate on this day in an attempt to secure the best deals for themselves or to find the perfect gift for the holiday shopping season. Although it was once considered a strictly American holiday, it is now celebrated all over the world.
History of Cyber Monday
The term Cyber Monday was first coined by the Senior Vice President of the National Retail Federation for the 2005 holiday shopping season. This term emerged because research had shown that one of the busiest online shopping days of the holiday season was the Monday immediately after Thanksgiving.
It was theorized that Americans would browse in stores on Thanksgiving and then, on the following Monday, would search the Internet for the products they had seen in brick-and-mortar stores, purchasing them at discounted prices online.
While this shopping holiday originated in the United States, it has since spread globally. Now it is celebrated not only in North America but also in Asia, the Middle East, South America, Australia, and Europe.
A prevailing belief is that Cyber Monday is leading to the decline of Black Friday as more consumers opt to shop online, either for convenience or because prices are generally lower for merchandise purchased online.
Cyber Monday Customs & Traditions
Cyber Monday is not a public holiday and is not observed in the U.S. at either the state or federal level, which means that all businesses that are normally open on this day continue to operate as usual. Unfortunately, some consumers who are looking for bargains on Cyber Monday and have to work that day do so from their office Internet connection.
This has led to many employers having to terminate employees who were caught shopping from their work desks on Cyber Monday. One recent study even states that as many as one out of five employers had to fire at least one employee because they were using the company’s Internet connection for non-work-related activities.
United States (Observance)
