With the pandemonium of Black Friday well under way, the online shopping splurge that is Cyber Monday is already beginning to enter shopper’s minds. However, consumers have been warned to shop with caution.
ComScore reported that consumers spent somewhere in the region of $887m online last Cyber Monday (a 5pc change on the previous year), which is generally known as one of the biggest shopping days of the year in the US.
Given the massive amounts of traffic that are expected, with online shoppers handing over their personal information, ITPRO has warned that threats based around consumer trends are likely to be prevalent and that consumers should be aware.
Sales increase
Some 58pc of online retailers expected their sales to increase substantially, thanks to serious discounts and promotions on offer, according to blog.shop.org research in 2008, a figure which has since dwindled somewhat amid the economic crises, even though online sales were estimated at $834m in 2008.
Market research firm ComScore found that last year, 52.7pc of sales originated from computers in places of business, sales from homes represented 41.6pc of sales, while sales from homes came in at 5.8pc of the total.
Businesswire advises customers to:
– Keep their antivirus software up-to-date
– Not to settle for top search results
– Refresh accounts with updated passwords
– Stick to one form of payment
Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following Black Friday, where Americans and Canadians increase their spending to embark on online shopping sprees.
Shop.org, the company that coined the term, featured more than 600 retailers offering discounts last year.
