While some may argue that Cyber Monday is little more than a marketing ploy created by the retail industry to separate consumers from their hard-earned cash, there is no denying that online merchants are increasingly focused on using the day and those that follow as a means to, well, separate consumers from their hard-earned cash.
According to Shop.org's eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 87.1 percent of retailers are planning to run special Cyber Monday promotions. That's up from 83.7 percent last year and 72.2 percent in 2007.
"Retailers have a very acute sense of the importance of Cyber Monday in kick-starting holiday sales and have been planning their promotions for months," said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, in a press release. "It seems like companies up the ante every year for Cyber Monday, and many holiday shoppers are eagerly anticipating the bargains that await them this year."
A number of retailers, as The Associated Press and others have reported, are looking to extend Cyber Monday into longer Cyber Weekend and Cyber Week events. Target, J.C. Penney, Toys "R" Us and Wal-Mart are all offering special online only deals and others incentives to sweeten the pot for shoppers.
Consumers can also check out CyberMonday.com, a website with links to 700 companies all offering special online deals for the holidays.
Discussion Questions: How important is Cyber Monday in the scheme of online things this holiday season? Will online be significantly more critical to retail performance this year than in past holiday seasons?