Why Cyber Monday matters more than ever

Given the origins of Cyber Monday, it should have become irrelevant in the grand scheme of online holiday sales. That’s far from the case though as evidenced by the latest insights from digital measurement firm comScore.

The leading digital measurement firm released data late Tuesday showing Cyber Monday sales increased 18% to more than $1.7 billion to establish a new record for the heaviest online shopping day in history. It was also the second day this season in which online sales surpassed $1 billion which was the case on Black Friday.

If that 18% figure sounds lower than what some other firms were quick to report late Monday and early Tuesday it is because comScore looked narrowly at spending conducted via desktop computer and excluded mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

"Any notion that Cyber Monday is declining in importance appears to be completely unfounded as its strong year-over-year growth rate of 18% resulted in yet another record for online spending in a single day," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "While it's true that many retailers are bleeding their Cyber Monday promotions into the weekend before and the days afterward, Cyber Monday itself continues to be the most important day of the online holiday shopping season. That said, we did also see evidence of early promotions pulling some dollars forward into the weekend, so it is possible that Cyber Monday could have even been stronger were it not for the emergence of this trend."