Cyber Monday also gains another benefit from not having to make their customers go to a store to buy products: Most people can shop at home or at work. Most of the purchases on the sales holiday are ordered from people at work. Online retailers are also focusing on making shopping quicker and easier. Amazon.com launched a new iPad sales app so people can shop on the go (“We basically rewrite the site for the iPad,” Berman explained), while Staples.com focused on an iPhone app that not only tells you the closest location, but includes the weekly ad and the amount of stock at east online/offline location. That makes sense for companies like Staples.com, who put a heavy emphasis on small businesses. They hope that Cyber Monday will help encourage smaller companies to order from their website year round instead of having to rely on different retailers for their needs. “That’s why we think Cyber Monday is so successful for us,” Bussberg said. “[Companies] are coming off their break, and we can provide them special deals for Cyber Monday, and they can take advantage of that.”
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There are a couple of problems that Cyber Monday runs into, however, that traditional retail stores might not. For one thing, people don’t get to physically see and handle the items, which makes some wary about the product they may be buying. Overstock.com’s Byrne said, however, that unlike retail stores where people have to rely on salespeople for opinions on a product, their site has user reviews to help you decide the quality of an item. Overstock.com also prides themselves on excelling on treating the consumer right. The National Retail Service ranked the website’s customer service #2 overall among US retailers, dispelling the myth that online sites can’t provide a great customer experience. Reviews play a big part of the Amazon.com experience, Berman says, especially when it comes to children’s toys. Instead of guessing whether or not the child on your list would want a particular toy, users can rely on other people who have bought the product to tell them if their kids played a lot with the item or put it down after one day. And, like most companies, they’re offering free shipping on orders just to entice more customers.
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“We’re about easy, we want to make it easy for our customer,” Bussberg said. “During the year, we’re about providing great service and easy to shop stores,but during this very busy time to find gifts they need, it’s easy to go on the website. We’ve got some great products, some great gifts and a lot of exciting new products. It’s all about websites being easy to shop from and being able to buy what you want.
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