Black Friday, Cyber Monday Have Already Begun

by alexoscarew | November 18, 2012 at 11:25 am

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The leaking of Black Friday ads began weeks ago, building anticipation among shoppers seeking the season’s best deals. In some ways, though, Black Friday and its online counterpart, Cyber Monday, have already arrived.

“Cyber Monday has begun, essentially,” says Thom Blischok, chief retail strategist for Booz & Co. “No question about it.”

Booz’s Holiday Retail Outlook report describes the way that consumers view Black Friday (and presumably, Cyber Monday) as increasingly “irrelevant” because of changing shopping habits—and because of the way stores are adapting to suit these changing habits. Shoppers “start looking earlier and buying later, and are moving online,” according to the report. “As a result, retailers are discounting even earlier, seeking to convert these early shoppers.”