Submitted by admin on Sun, 2005-11-27 09:00. ::
WASHINGTON — After a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend of Christmas shopping at the mall, many people will return to work Monday. And keep shopping. Online.
The Monday after Thanksgiving, dubbed Cyber Monday, has emerged as the kickoff for online Christmas shopping. On that day last year, more than three-quarters of online retailers saw a significant jump in sales, according to a new survey.
The biggest winners are Web sites selling jewelry and other luxury items and electronics, according to the survey being released Monday by the National Retail Federation.
The survey also found that 37 percent of consumers or about 52 million people will browse or buy holiday gifts this year while surfing the Internet at work.
“There is an understanding that there will be some of that, but it can't monopolize the entire day,” said Frank Scanlan, with the Society for Human Resource Management.
Nikita Wong, a 32-year-old sales representative for a small manufacturer of women's clothing, doesn't worry about getting in trouble for shopping online at work. “My sales manager and I shop together online,” said Wong, who has down time while she waits for orders.
For Wong, who lives and works in the capital of retailing, New York City, shopping online is a matter of convenience. “It's just too much hassle,” Wong said of fighting the crowds in the stores.
Although still a small portion of overall retailing, online shopping is growing fast. The retail federation estimates people will spend nearly $110 billion online this year, excluding travel sales, more than double the 2002 total.
Overall, retail sales top $4 trillion. Retailers know the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday, because Christmas shoppers send them out of the red and into the black.
Online retailers are picking up on the Cyber Monday trend this year by providing special promotions, ranging from free shipping to gifts and discounts.
A survey by the federation found that 43 percent of online retailers plan special deals Monday. For example, Lenox, the maker of fine china, is offering $10 off Web orders above $75 Monday.
Back at their desks on Monday, many workers will face monitoring of their computer usage. Seventy percent of human resource professionals polled by the society said their companies at least occasionally monitor employees' computer use.
Land said the company, with about 15,000 employees nationwide, uses a filter on its Internet access that screens out sites related to alcohol, poker and sex, but not shopping sites.
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