By Brian M. Boyce
TERRE HAUTE — Official numbers should be available today on the online shopping phenomenon of Cyber Monday, but details aside, locally and nationally, people agree that the Internet is affecting retail.
Jennifer Kennedy, Webmaster for www.gallowaycamera.com, said the camera store inside Honey Creek Mall tries to match its online specials to those at the brick-and-mortar store.
“What we’ve been doing all weekend is a sale on Nikons” on both the Internet and in-store promotions, she said.
Most customers use the Internet to check out products and prices then go to the store to see the merchandise before purchasing, she said, adding she doesn’t keep a regular tab on Web traffic and sales generated there, but they didn’t appear out of the ordinary Monday.
According to information provided by the National Retail Federation, surveys predicted 100 million shoppers would take to the Net this year on Monday.
Coremetrics, a Web analytics company in San Mateo, Calif., said that as of 1 p.m. on Cyber Monday, Internet sales for the day were up 19.6 percent compared to a year ago, according to an AP report.
Rod Henry, president of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, had mixed feelings about the impact of online shopping.
“Obviously, I would rather see people, before they go shop on the Internet, go and shop in the local stores,” he said, stating that some online transactions cheat communities out of sales tax revenue. The value of spending money in local brick-and-mortar stores is the “ripple effect” it has throughout the community, something lessened by purchasing goods direct from a national manufacturer or warehouse.
On the other hand, the Internet is used by large and small businesses alike for promotion.
“It’s good advertising,” he said. “Get the message out of what you’ve got and hopefully people will want to see what you have in the shops.”
Crystal Keung, manager of FYE inside Honey Creek Mall, said she wasn’t familiar with the term “Cyber Monday,” but the entertainment store does use the Internet heavily.
Customers can go online and order compact discs and other products directly from their warehouses, she said, adding that the volume of those sales is not tracked locally.
“It’s been moderate today,” she said of in-store sales which were between $3,000 and $4,000 that afternoon. Friday, however, generated strong traffic. “Oh, we did excellent. We were down a little bit from last year, but not too bad at all.”
According to information provided by the National Retail Federation, 87.1 percent of retailers nationally were expected to post a special promotion online Monday, up from 83.7 percent in 2008 and 72.2 percent in 2007.
Safety Tips for Shopping Online
• Document online orders and check credit card statements to ensure accuracy.
• Maintain spam filters, antivirus and anti-spyware software on computers used for shopping.
• Federal law requires orders made by mail, phone or online be shipped by the date promised, or within 30 days. If the goods aren’t shipped on time, the shopper can cancel and demand a refund.
– Source: Better Business Bureau
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
