Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

Thoughts on Cyber Monday and the Rest of the Holiday Season

Cyber Monday, albeit with conflicting statistics, seems to have outperformed 2007.  comScore has stated that sales were 15% better. Nielson claims that shopping sites within its retail index saw 10% increased traffic from last year. It did say that top 500 retail sites were down 1% of traffic though. Among the winners seems to have been Amazon, which saw a 21% year over year growth in traffic, and according to Hitwise had 10.77% off all US traffic on Cyber Monday.

So is the 2008 Holiday retail sales doomed as predicted or has Cyber Monday shown a silver lining? I don’t envision death to retail but then again I also don’t see a Holiday season of anything better than flat growth. According to comScore, the Holiday Shopping is down by 2% overall including Cyber Monday.  As consumers become more Internet savvy, I’m really not surprised that overall internet traffic has picked up.  But I think most of this traffic growth is due to media’s influence of reporting huge deals by struggling retailers and consumers willingness to scour for deals and coupons.

Most of the deals this Holiday season seem to be 20% or 25% off with free shipping for Internet retailers. There seems to be a proliferation of these deals that are being remarketed as something new every week.  Not a bad option for those new 2009 clothing lines, sporting goods, or small electronics.  However, if you are in the market for anything larger, like the flat screen TV that I’m waiting for, I would be holding tight and waiting for the January clearance.

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I’m Back…

Well it’s sure been a long hiatus since my last blog post - a lot of things have happened.

In May, I completed my MBA education at USC Marshall School of Business, having graduated with Beta Gamma Sigma honors.

In July, I married my girlfriend of five years and got to honeymoon in Belize.  I also started my current job as Internet Marketing Manager at LAMPS PLUS.

In August & September, I got accustomed to post-MBA and newly-married life.   I’ve learned that the flexibility of school hours really is something special.  I’ve also learned that being flexible in marriage is also special.

In  October & November, most weekends were busy with attending other weddings and weekend trips (Joshua Tree, San Francisco, New York). All fun but time-consuming.

Now, that I’ve gotten settled back into the swing of things restarting my blog postings was on the top of my list.  Now with this posting, I can officially cross that task off my list.

Stay tuned for more commentary and thoughts on Marketing, the Internet, and more.

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New Artwork Uploaded

Uploaded a few new and more recent pieces of artwork to my online gallery.  Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to throw up some more while finishing up my MBA.  Enjoy!

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CNN: Don’t be US Weekly

It a sad commentary on what we value in society when Britney Spears’ hospital stay is the front page story over a little thing like the INTERNET going down for part of the world…

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New Blog Resolutions

2008 is already here.  It’s been 10 days since the new year and I have yet to make any resolutions.  Well, here are some that I will make for this blog:

1. Make tweaks to the design and usability of the blog - ok I cheated a bit and this is being done as we speak.
2. Post more often…let’s make this a daily event for as long as I can take it.
3. Upload portfolio (print and web) and develop other interesting sections. 
4. Continue learning and keep up to date by practicing new SEM and SEO techniques on this blog.    

Ok, the resolutions have now been blogged….thus it will be done.  I guess that means I’ll be blogging tomorrow.

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