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And The Crystal Ball Says: This Year’s Busiest E-Commerce Day Will Be Dec. 18

Written by Evan Schuman
November 20th, 2006

There are some things on this planet that are simply not predictable, but we mortals try anyway. Into that category goes an announcement on Monday from CyberSource that they have calculated what the busiest online shopping day will be this year: Mon., Dec. 18th.

The vendor said they crunched the date by looking at both historical shopping patterns and the mail delivery schedule.

“A rule of thumb has emerged about holiday peak shopping days: they typically happen on the Monday occurring closest to Christmas where there is at least a week available for shipping. We expect that to be the case this year—Monday, December 18th. CyberMonday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is a good eCommerce shopping day, but beyond that it’s just hype. It represents no sort of sales plateau. If anything, it’s about the halfway mark for holiday sales,” said Doug Schwegman, CyberSource director of market and customer intelligence. “”If the peak does occur earlier this year, say Monday, December 11th, this will mean the early shopping incentives have prevailed over the procrastinators,” said Schwegman. “But I believe the rule will hold up. eCommerce is all about convenience.”

Posted in E-Commerce, IT Strategy/Industry
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