Seasonal

The dynamics of Thanksgiving weekend retail activity continue to evolve, but Cyber Monday still rules with sales that topped $2 billion for the first time ever this year.

CHELMSFORD, Mass. - Chicago-area Stratford Square Mall is relying on Axis Communications’ network cameras to protect public safety and minimize shoplifting during the holiday shopping season. Along with an increase in sales, the holiday season can also bring an increase in merchandise shrink, adding more incentive for mall managers to have eyes throughout the facility.

Healthy e-commerce growth offset a sales slowdown at Ascena Retail Group’s physical stores and enabled the company to achieve its first quarter financial expectations.

Ascena, operator of stores under the Lane Bryant, Cacique, Maurices, Dressbarn, Catherines, Justice and Brothers brands, said same store sales declined 2% during its first quarter ended Oct. 25 as a 16% comp increase online wasn’t enough to offset a 4% decline at physical stores.

Portland, Ore. – Consumers have trust in well-known brands online, possibly to the detriment of themselves and their employers and to and the benefit of cybercriminals. According to a new survey of 2,011 U.S. and U.K. consumers from security solutions provider Tripwire, more than 40% of consumers believe emails from “trusted brands” are safe to click, and nearly a quarter (24%) anticipate doing at least part of their holiday shopping while at work.

Survey findings include:

Walmart’s efforts to better integrate physical and digital appear to be gaining traction judging from key disclosures the company made regarding online activity.

Cyber Monday transaction volume set a new record at Walmart.com and throughout the five day period running from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday the company said it experienced more than 1.5 billion page views. During the same period, mobile accounted for approximately 70 percent of traffic to Walmart.com.

San Jose, Calif. - Total online sales for Cyber Monday came in at $2.65 billion, up 16% compared to 2013. According to data from Adobe Systems, the top 25 retailers, who each generated $30 million or more on Cyber Monday, saw online sales increase by 25%, capturing nearly $1.8 billion.
Smaller retailers, those generating $2 million or less, grew sales by 5%. Consumers saw the highest discounts of 23% in the early morning hours and more than half (54%) of online sales occurred outside of normal working hours.

New York – Black Friday was a more social event than Cyber Monday, with 3.5 million tweets and 838 million impressions compared to 839,000 tweets and 309 million impressions. According to a study from StatSocial, women were more likely than men to socially comment on both events, accounting for 59% of

Black Friday comments and 63% of Cyber Monday comments.

Morrisville. N.C. – Online sales for the total “Cyber Five” five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday rose 20.6% from the same period in 2013. According to analysis from ChannelAdvisor, the biggest increase occurred Cyber Saturday (27%) and smallest occurred on Cyber Monday (16.7%).