As the holiday season approaches, many students are saving their money for Black Friday, which is on Nov. 23. But junior Charles Binion is not one of these students. Instead of saving up for Black Friday, he prefers to shop on Nov. 26, Cyber Monday, the Monday after Black Friday.

“There’s more of a quantity (on Cyber Monday),” Binion said. “They may have overstocked or over-gotten things, which is easier, because now they have a guaranteed TV or guaranteed clothing.”
Black Friday is often considered one of the busiest shopping days of the year, but while it is still expected to attract many customers, more people are beginning to shop on Cyber Monday. According to PSFweb, an online business analysis group, the number of shoppers on Cyber Monday has been growing since 2006.

Tamika Liebig, the customer solutions manager at Best Buy in Westfield, said she agrees that more people may prefer Cyber Monday because it’s more convenient.

“Once you shop online, the item’s picked and it’s held for you in your name,” Liebig said. “If you’re at your home and you decide to come over to purchase product, it may not be here.”
Binion, who says he shops online two to three times a day, said he thinks Cyber Monday is especially gaining popularity among students.

“More teenagers are getting jobs, so they have their own money now, and getting their own either debit or credit card really helps because they can now online shop better,” Binion said.

This year, however, brick-and-mortar stores, such as Best Buy and Target, are starting to compete with Cyber Monday sales by lowering in-store prices to match online competitors.

“Cyber Monday will probably be even bigger for (Best Buy in-stores) this year over our past years since now we match online competitors,” Liebig said. “(It will bring) increased traffic, and then once our consumers are aware that we’re matching online competitors, then I think that it will get us more traffic throughout the year.”

As for prices, Binion said he expects a little more of a discount than last year because of economic conditions and the fact that online and brick-and-mortar stores are competing with each other.  However, he said he does not believe that prices are as low as stores advertised, and that Cyber Monday and Black Friday are not as big of sales as people expect them to be.

“People dramatize how prices are so low and then when you actually get to the store, they’re only $100 or $200 off versus how they say it’s going to be like $1000 or $2000 off,” Binion said. “I would consider (Cyber Monday and Black Friday) fake as being they’re not as good as people think they really are.”

Nevertheless, he said he still plans to participate in Cyber Monday.

“I’ll probably still use Cyber Monday and not really Black Friday,” Binion said. “I shop on Cyber Monday because I don’t have to stay in the cold, I’m not annoyed by other people being there and it’s not dark.”