(WHDH) — Retailers are expected to set new records on Cyber Monday as the savings event continues to grow.
Monday capped off a five-day stretch that started on Thanksgiving Day with shoppers hungry for deals.
“Cyber Monday started in 2005 with less than $500 million in sales. Last year, in 2017 it was over 6.6 billion dollars in sales,” financial expert Chris Burns said.
Retail sales in-store and online on Black Friday totaled $23 billion, according to projections by Mastercard. This marks an increase of nine percent over the same day last year.
The solid economy put pressure on individual retailers to perform but they have to know what consumers want.
“You see the brick and mortar retailers are doing a buy online, pick up in store, or buy in-store and deliver at home,” Matthew Shay of the National Retail Federation explained. “They’re using digital strategies to serve customers that want to be served.”
Numbers from Adobe Analytics showed a sharp increase over last year in online sales on Thanksgiving — up 29 percent to $3.7 billion — and Black Friday — up nearly 24 percent to a record $6.2 billion.
Cyber Monday gives the traditional retailers, like Target, Walmart and Macy’s, a chance to battle online giants like Amazon on their turf.
However, with more sales ringing up online and mobile, scammers see more opportunity.
“Go straight to the retailer’s website,” Burns warned. “Don’t just Google flat screen TVs because the ads that pop up could be malicious. They could be out to harm you.”
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