Cyber Monday

Tools

By Katie Ussin

Story Published: Nov 30, 2009 at 7:47 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 30, 2009 at 7:47 PM MST

BILLINGS - Shoppers clicked away to score some great deals this Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday.

The National Retail Federation estimates about 100-million Americans will log on for internet deals, that's up from about 85-million last year. As for Black Friday numbers, they said more people were shopping, but they were spending less than last year.

One Montana-based store looking forward to Cyber Monday is Vann's. Just this month, Consumer Reports named Vanns.com among the top-rated online retailers; right up there with Amazon.

Vann's main warehouse is in Missoula. The manager of online operations said they do more business over the internet than they do in their six Montana stores, and Cyber Monday they do almost ten times the amount of business than on an average day. So what are the hot items?

"What's new in TV's is the LED technology," said Montana Cole, Vann's product advisor. "People are really interested in what's the newest and coolest thing."

Front-loading laundry machines are also popular said Cole. He said they sold almost 120 pairs statewide on Black Friday. "That's a lot of laundry going out the door!"

Like many retailers, Vann's has taken to social networking sites, like Facebook, to provide sneak peeks of discounts; a great way for consumers to save.

"Retail 101, I want to give you the best price so you want to buy, but no lower," said Regina Lewis, AOL consumer advisor. "So, if you never take advantage of free shipping, if you don't use coupons, I'm not going to serve them up to you. If you do take advantage of that stuff, sign up for newsletters, become a Facebook fan of the retailer. In technology terms, having that stuff pushed to you."

However, there are still deals to be had in the brick and mortars. "Because of the in-store specials that we can run and can't advertise on line," said Cole.

Despite the hype of Cyber Monday, retail experts said the busiest online shopping day will be in mid-December; the last days that free shipping is guaranteed to arrive by Christmas.

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tyler said on Monday, Nov 30 at 8:38 PM

i think cyber monday is picking up this year because of the coupon codes available. Like today, I found a 20% off coupon for Old Navy and a $5 off coupon for Target at http://GoPromoCodes.com. I haven't ever seen those deals in stores.

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