Cyber Monday was another lucrative day for online retailers, as early estimates showed sales up 18% from a year earlier on what is expected to be the year's biggest day of Internet shopping.
Websites run by department stores were among the day's most prominent gainers, as sales at Macy's Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and similar retailers were up 39% as of Monday afternoon, according to the International Business Machines Corp.'s Smarter Commerce arm.
IBM predicted Cyber Monday sales would finish the day 20% ahead of the same 24 hours in 2010. Sales on Cyber Monday are projected to total around $1.2 billion, up from $1.03 billion last year, according to research firm comScore Inc.
The question now is whether Web retailers can maintain the momentum through the holiday season. Many major Internet stores moved the beginning of their seasonal sales to before Thanksgiving, so it's unclear whether customers are simply shifting their spending to earlier in the year or if increased spending will continue.
"It's too early to see whether the entire consumer wallet will be spent this early in the year," said John Squire, chief strategy officer of IBM's Smarter Commerce. "There are always procrastinators who wait until" the middle of December to buy gifts.
Retailers in 2005 coined the term "Cyber Monday" to organize Web sales on the Monday following Thanksgiving. The theory was that back then, many shoppers would have faster Internet access at the offices rather than at home. In the past couple of years Cyber Monday became the single biggest day for online shopping in the year; it had previously been a date closer to Christmas, analysts say.
Some sites, such as Ann Inc.'s Ann Taylor, experienced overloads. The women's clothing store was offering 50% off deals, but a spokeswoman said high traffic caused a website outage. Ann Taylor said it would extend its sale until midnight Tuesday.
Some retailers reported having their best day ever. Handbag and luggage store eBags Inc. said sales on Monday were up 45% as of the early evening. "It will be a pretty substantial increase over last year's all-time record," said eBags co-founder Peter Cobb.
Clients of Mercent Corp., which helps 200 retailers including Office Depot Inc. and Petco Animal Supplies Inc. sell products online, saw sales rise 37% as of Monday morning, said Mercent CEO Eric Best.
A Target Corp. spokesman said the company was "pleased with the reaction to our online sales," which includes offers for 50% reductions on items such as kid's scooters and artificial Christmas trees, adding that top items were predominantly toys and electronics. He declined to provide figures, saying only that "we've seen tremendous growth in both traffic and sales on our mobile site and mobile apps over the past few days."
Many online retailers saw increased shopping from mobile devices, IBM's Mr. Squire said. He said that as of the mid-afternoon, 7.5% of sales on Monday came from mobile gadgets, while 2.75% of sales came specifically from Apple Inc.'s iPad device. That's up 250% compared with iPad figures last year, he said.
EBay Inc.'s PayPal unit said that as of the early afternoon, payments made on mobile devices increased 514% on Monday from a year earlier.
EBay and Amazon.com Inc. didn't respond to requests for sales estimates. But data from ChannelAdvisor, which helps more than 3,000 retailers sell on eBay and on Amazon's third-party marketplace, suggested the two did well. ChannelAdvisor said that as of midday Monday, its clients that sold on eBay saw a 17% rise in sales from a year earlier, while those selling on Amazon saw sales up 51%.
The Cyber Monday deals enticed shoppers including Jennifer Milosch, who spent about $150 on slippers, wine and other gifts for family and friends. She took advantage of a special free shipping from one of her favorite California wineries. "That's what made me buy today, because the shipping is normally expensive," said Ms. Milosch, a Ph.D. student studying economics at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The strong Cyber Monday sales come after spending from Nov. 1 to Nov. 25, which was Black Friday, rose 15% compared to a year earlier, according to comScore. Online-retail leaders said part of the increase came because some stores started sales as early November, so they are anxious to see whether consumers will continue to spend through the holiday season.
"That's the hope of the retailer, that you'll either be buying additional gifts for others or additional purchases for themselves once you get them in the shopping mood," said Mr. Cobb of eBags.
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