By George Anderson
People may just have to reconsider the notion that Cyber Monday is the unofficial kickoff of the holiday selling season for online retailers.
While most of the media attention was focused on how strong online sales would be yesterday (and it appears they were), it turns out that a record number of visitors went online to shopping sites on Black Friday.
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the number of unique visitors to 100 online retailers tracked by the service jumped 29 percent from last year's number for the day after Thanksgiving.
In all, 7.4 million unique visitors went to those sites to make a purchase or do research on products they are looking to buy.
As for Cyber Monday, early reports suggest that it did not disappoint, with e-tailers reporting marked increased in traffic to their sites and higher revenues to go with it.
Troy Brown, a senior director for Timberland, who is responsible for overseeing the outdoor apparel and footwear company's web site, told The Wall Street Journal traffic was up 87 percent over the same day last year and revenues had jumped 137 percent.
"The traffic spikes and revenue spikes are unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's crazy," he said.
Moderator's Comment: Will this be a quantum leap type of year for online retailing? Does the increase in people doing product and pricing research as well as shopping online indicate that a fundamental change has taken place in how consumers in America go shopping? - George Anderson - Moderator