Black Friday and Cyber Monday have traditionally been two of the biggest shopping events in a year. The tradition to offer some of the most insane discounts, deals, and bundles isn’t very old, but it has grown bigger every year.
While Black Friday has come and gone, it is likely that Cyber Monday might just draw more customers this year. This is despite the fact that major retailers traditionally hold a three-day shopping fest that starts on Black Friday and continues till Sunday night.
How is Cyber Monday different from Black Friday?
The first-ever formal Cyber Monday shopping event was held in 2005. The term gained popularity and was picked up by retailers after an article titled, “Cyber Monday quickly becoming one of the biggest online shopping days of the year,” went viral.
The shopping festival was the result of an intense and detailed research conducted in 2004. The research revealed that the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend was usually one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. Needless to add, retailers jumped at the opportunity to create new shopping avenues, and started offering attractive deals to boost their sales.
We are here to continue THE BIGGEST SALE of the year! 🎉
CYBER MONDAY SALE is here! Shop now: pic.twitter.com/nWlXlckBMu— LOCKTHECOCK 🐔 BLACK FRIDAY SALE! (@lockthecock_) November 29, 2020
One of the fundamental differences between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is location. Traditionally, Black Friday was an in-store shopping festival. Physical retailers attempted to attract buyers with deals in their stores. Meanwhile, as the name of the event suggests, the latter is dedicated to online shopping.
However, in recent years, the distinction has blurred significantly. Moreover, as several physical retailers have opened up virtual stores, several Black Friday deals are now available online just like Cyber Monday deals.
Will Cyber Monday be a bigger event that Black Friday this year?
Black Friday was supposed to be an in-store shopping festival. However, several retailers have had to close down or temporarily shut many of their outlets amidst the ongoing pandemic. Hence, the majority of Black Friday deals were available through websites only.
Online retail giant Amazon has stretched the Black Friday shopping festival to an entire month this year. The eCommerce company started offering extensively discounted products at the end of October itself, and has continued to unveil new deals every day since.
Traditionally, Cyber Monday has been a single-day shopping festival. In other words, deals start flowing in at midnight on Sunday and continue for 24 hours. However, following Amazon’s lead, several retailers are stretching the event this year, with some lengthening it to last a week. This has caused several media publications to rename the shopping festival as ‘Cyber Week’.
As the pandemic hasn’t yet showed any signs of ebbing, and vaccines aren’t yet ready for mass deployments, retailers will insist buyers head over to their virtual locations online. Hence, it is quite likely that Cyber Week could be a bigger shopping festival than the Black Friday weekend.