Even the recession couldn’t stop Christmas this year. Comscore has just reported that on Cyber Monday, U.S. customers spent $1.03 billion dollars online. The most ever in a single day. 4% more customers than last year. 6% more transactions. And 12% bigger purchases.
I think it’s safe to say that shopping has changed. And that’s because of information. Now with so many price comparison websites in the mainstream, it’s becoming more and more easy not to get ripped off. And so people are being smarter. Researching. And finding out that there’s often a retailer online that is cheaper than their local one. It’s probably safe to say that these “deal” sites are also helping people find new deals that they may not have even been looking for. And the numbers back that up.
As companies like Google and Groupon keep pushing local businesses though, it will be interesting to see the evolution of retail play out in the next couple of years.