As the battle for e-tail escalates, Cyber Monday has taken on a new significance. Case in point: Target, which is going for broke Nov. 30 with an unprecedented 15 percent off its entire online assortment. In the following corporate blog, Jason Goldberger, president of Target.com and mobile, explains the retailer’s rationale.
Pundits for a while now have been dismissing Cyber Monday, with headlines in recent years declaring it “obsolete” or even a “myth.”
After all, it’s not the biggest online shopping day of the year for many retailers, including Target. And long gone are the days when consumers had to wait until Monday workdays to access high-speed Internet to do their online shopping. (During break time, of course. Or when the boss wasn’t looking.)
Yet, counterintuitive as it seems in today’s 24/7, always-connected world, Cyber Monday sales continue to climb. In 2014, the day’s sales climbed as much as 20 percent to nearly $3 billion, by some estimates, and I believe Cyber Monday will continue to grow at a healthy clip for years to come.
One explanation, of course, is that consumers have come to expect great deals on Cyber Monday — and retailers will continue to deliver. So it’s the deals, period. But I think there’s more going on.
Data from last year’s event shows that millennials make up a big chunk of Cyber Week shoppers. A recent survey shows that 93 percent of millennials plan to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday — with nearly half of those planning to shop both days equally.
To me, this is testament to consumers’ growing need for simplification. To today’s always-connected shoppers, who get served deals constantly via email, social and broadcast channels, events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday stand out even more because they know retailers are giving it their all — and that this one really counts.
The same holds true for physical stores on Black Friday. Millions of shoppers still show up and stand in lines at stores for Black Friday deals, even though they have access to most of the deals online earlier in the day.
Why? Because shopping is fun. It’s exciting. It’s sport. Consumers want to feel the energy, and be part of the event. And both Black Friday and Cyber Monday send a clear message: these are great days to shop and find amazing deals.
This year, Target is going all-in on Cyber Monday — in a bigger, bolder way than we ever have before. We’re planning Cyber Monday and Cyber Week as a great follow up to our Black Friday event, which historically produces Target’s biggest online sales day of the year.
In a first, Target.com will offer a 15 percent site-wide discount. It’s a big move for a general merchandise discounter like Target. We’ll also have about 75 e-doorbusters on Cyber Monday plus great, department-wide deals throughout the week in areas like apparel, home and toys. This — combined with free shipping throughout the holiday season — is our way of rising above the noise of all the other sales to show deal-seekers that Target’s deals really are amazing.
