By all accounts, the budding annual tradition known as Cyber Monday was a huge success, delivering record results in its 6th year of existence after being dreamed up by the National Retail Federation in 2006. IBM reports a 33% rise in online sales on Monday versus a year ago.
While double-digit sales growth is especially welcomed during a sluggish economy, e-commerce analysts like Sucharita Mulpuru at Forrester Research say unintended consequences could arise. Super early sales that led to early buying could create ”demand shift” and simply replace December sales as we head closer to the holidays.
On the p0sitive side, Mulpuru believes the ”pure-plays,” or stores that do 100% of their sales online, are in a strong position. She expects industry leader Amazon (AMZN) to continue its recent trend of “outpacing overall e-commerce growth for several quarters now.”
Not surprisingly, Mulpuru says Apple (AAPL) also deserves high marks for its line-up of “must-have” products this season and its new roll as the “biggest traffic driver to the malls.”
Aside from big box stores like Best Buy (BBY), this Charlotte-based analyst who used to work for Saks (SKS), Toys ‘R Us, and Disney (DIS) points to
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