Budget conscious shoppers slogged their way through stores on Black Friday in search of the best holiday deals, but Cyber Monday may turn out to offer the best sales.
Instead of braving the cold and the crowds, many tech savvy shoppers have decided to wait and do their holiday shopping online.
To help you find the best deals WalletHub analyzed the best and worst online retailers to find the deepest discounts on Cyber Monday and throughout the week.
Southern Methodist University Marketing Professor Daniel Howard told WalletHub Cyber Monday could possibly be the best shopping day of the year for the savvy consumer.
“Shopping online is a lot faster and arguably easier. In that important sense, Cyber Monday wins hands down.”
Experts agree the best strategy for shoppers is to make a budget, stick to the plan, prioritize, compare prices and of course watch out for scams.
The average online retailer is offering a 36 percent discount on hot ticket items this week. Consumers shopping online should aim for that to avoid falling into Cyber Monday retailer traps.
Cyber Monday 2015 may set a new record https://t.co/M0XtlCGxja pic.twitter.com/h9nSDNSXTE
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 30, 2015
Top Ten Retailer Discounts Online
- Groupon: 61.8 percent
- Belk: 58.6 percent
- Bon-Ton: 56 percent
- JCPenney: 52.6 percent
- Macy’s: 51.7 percent
- eBay: 50.5 percent
- Kohl’s: 50.2 percent
- Sears: 48.6 percent
- Amazon: 41.7 percent
- Kmart: 40.2 percent
Unlike Black Friday, jewelry is being offered at the deepest discounts while electronics are the least.
With lackluster Black Friday sales numbers, retailers are banking on the week of Cyber Monday to help boost sales. Experts predict Monday’s sales to jump 12 percent, according to CNBC .
Black Friday was just the tip of the iceberg for Apple deals https://t.co/eeFYbROmTi #CyberMonday
— Forbes (@Forbes) November 30, 2015
Top Apparel & Accessories Discounts
- Ebay: 70.65 percent
- Groupon: 69.63 percent
- Sears: 67.11
Top Computer & Phone Discounts
- JCPenny: 46.82 percent
- Kohl’s: 39.34 percent
- Stage: 38.55 percent
Top Consumer Electronics Discounts
- Groupon: 48.84 percent
- JCPenny: 42.23 percent
- eBay: 41.93 percent
Mega-retailer Target is offering consumers 15 percent off their entire online order on Cyber Monday; a deal so popular shoppers crashed the website. To help manage the huge influx of online customers the company set up an online queue that allows some people to shop the website while others wait, the company spokesman told CNN Money .
“Target.com is not down. We continue to receive and process thousands of orders from guests who are shopping the entire site and taking advantage of the discount coupled with free shipping.”
Neiman Marcus, Best Buy, Walmart and eBay websites were all plagued by problems Monday.
Cyber Monday sales on track to top $3bn for the first time ever https://t.co/2fVTt4C8r2
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) November 30, 2015
Top Discounts on Toys
- Groupon: 55.89 percent
- Stage: 42.74 percent
- Bon-Ton: 41.81 percent
Jewelry
- Sears: 76.54 percent
- Kmart: 73.73 percent
- Kohl’s: 66.71 percent
More shoppers are choosing to go to mobile than ever before with Walmart expecting 70 percent of online traffic to come from smartphones and tablets , according to USA Today .
The Cyber Monday shopping holiday is 10 years old today. In 2005, the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org posted a notice advertising the trend, according to Quartz . The media fell in love with the phrase and retailers helped push the idea with their deep discounts in an effort to help drive profits during the holiday season .
“Experts believe that an increase in web traffic could stem from the fact that consumers may have faster or more secure Internet connections at work and choose to shop there, or that they were unable to finish all of their shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend.”
Stay tuned to the Inquisitr for more holiday sales deals. A full study of online retailers and their Cyber Monday discounts is available from WalletHub .
[Photo by Jeff Spicer /Getty Images]
