Cyber Monday: Local retailers prepare for busiest online shopping day

A Canadian website offers an online-exclusive 'Cyber Monday' deal on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012.

Online shoppers are counting down the hours to Cyber Monday – one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

Whether it’s the thrill of the unexpected delivery, exclusive deals, or just the fact that it can be done within the comfort of your ownhome, online shopping has increased in popularity.

“The appeal would be convenience,” says online shopper Jana Howland. “I don’t have to go out and fight the crowds to find the things I’m looking for in person, and it gets delivered straight to my door.”

“Some online shops can be really expensive, but some of them can be really cheap, and you buy one full price, get one half off,” says online shopper Amber Smith.

Cyber Monday is Dec. 2 and both national chains and locally-owned stores are already promoting deals such as free shipping and discounts to encourage people to log online.

“You’re always wanting to save a buck and whenever you can, especially so close to the holidays,” says Morgan Palmer, who works at a cosmetics store in uptown Saint John.

The shop does online orders and Palmer says her boss is constantly targeting online shoppers.

“She’s always doing crazy promotions online,” says Palmer. “She loves to do, on days like this, snow days, she loves to do free shipping so you don’t have to leave your house.”

But, as with most things, buyers should always be careful about deals that seem too good to be true.

“Do some comparison shopping locally and if you go on a site and find it’s $50 cheaper than it is everywhere else, you should have red flags go up,” says Jill Atkinson, a communications director for the Better Business Bureau.

“Same as availability of products. Kids want certain items this time of year and if you find there are none locally, but you see a website with hundreds, again, another red flag.

Recent studies also show online shopping isn’t just done on a desktop or laptop computer anymore; people are spending just as much money online while using their smartphones.

No matter the device, online shops are trying to get the attention of anyone who is accessing the internet.

“There’s a real science to online marketing and I think some retailers have really figured out how to kind of take us down a path and get us to the point where we’ve loaded that shopping cart, and we’ve got to press ‘buy now’ even though there’s some things we don’t quite like about that final transaction, like shipping or taxes, but we do it anyway,” says marketing expert Allan Gates.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar