Cyber Monday has outstripped Black Friday deals in terms of value for online stores and bargains for consumers. We expect Cyber Monday 2020 to be no different.
However, this year's Cyber Monday may be your last chance for really good deals for another big reason: retailers are hinting that they want everyone to buy earlier than ever and avoid the shipping delays we've seen throughout this pandemic year.
This goes along with our usual Black Friday vs Cyber Monday advice: when you see a good deal, buy as soon as possible if it's from a store with an easy return policy. If the price drops further, you can buy again, then cancel or return the original order. You can't go back in time to get an expired deal or sold out item.
Cyber Monday isn't guaranteed to offer everything at the absolute best price, but it may just be your last chance to get anything at a big discount. Here's why that's shaping up to be the case more than ever in 2020.
The Cyber Monday date will leave some scrambling
The Cyber Monday 2020 date is November 30, meaning, when the deals end, there will be just 25 days until Christmas, and only ten days until the start of Hanukkah.
That's going to set in motion a time crunch for retailers to sell as fast as possible – on or before Cyber Monday. Likewise, the late date will force consumers to buy early, wait for shipments and wrap gifts. There's hardly room for error or re-orders, so, knowing this, retailers may limit the best deals to November.
In other words, habitual procrastinators who wait until December will be left wanting.
Shipping delays – they're inevitable
Yes, every year, we see unfortunate shipping delays hinder the well-intentioned gift-giving plans of empty-handed consumers. But Cyber Monday 2020 feels different.
Today's package delivery companies (and Santa) have never met a global pandemic of this scale before, and that's going to put a lot of pressure on parcel services.
It's one reason Walmart Black Friday deals may be happening over the course of three weeks in November. Ideas like that really space out the shipping allotments, and, presumably, the biggest sales will conclude on Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday is now bigger than Black Friday
Believe it or not, Cyber Monday generates more revenue than Black Friday. In fact, this invented online shopping day set a new record last year, generating $9.2 billion (about £7.14b, AU$13.1b) for retailers globally, according to Adobe Analytics.
Black Friday was no slouch a year ago, taking in $7.4 billion (about £5.7b, AU$10.5b), according to the same analytics report. But it's clear that Cyber Monday is favored – whether due to consumers buying later or retailers discounting more, or both, and there's going to be a desire to top last year's recording-breaking sales figure.
Simply put, no retailer is going to wait until Green Monday deals on December 7 to roll out their absolute best prices. When it comes to buying, you shouldn't either.
- For more buying advice: Why Black Friday is the perfect time to buy a laptop
