Could 'Cyber Monday' Change the Standards of Shopping? (AMZN, JCP, NILE)

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) is at the forefront of a growing trend of online shopping that is continuing today with “Cyber Monday” deals.

While the Monday following the after-Thanksgiving weekend is not the busiest online shopping day of the year, it is the day that Internet retailers offer the deepest discounts.

If the trends from “Black Friday,” which saw shoppers looking to take advantage of the best deals while leaving regular priced merchandise on the shelves, are repeated in cyberspace today, then the web-companies that offer the best price will get the dollars.

Amazon shares are riding the momentum from the online shopping boom, reaching record-highs during market hours on Monday.

Online shopping for the Black Friday weekend jumped 11 percent to $595 million, according to a report by comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR).

Sales could reach an excess of $900 million on Cyber Monday as online companies continue to sell more products at deeper discounts. Sales during last year's Cyber Monday totaled $846 million. If sales do reach $900 million, it would represent a growth of 6 percent.

One strategy that big-box and department stores used over the holiday weekend to drive sales, was to offer the popular doorbuster deals that make Black Friday so attractive to consumers, over the web.

According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, some 87 percent of U.S. retailers are offering some type of special promotion on Cyber Monday, up from 84 percent last year. The survey also showed that 96.5 million Americans plan to take advantage of the deals by shopping via the web on Cyber Monday, up from 85 million on the same day last year.

Amazon said the day might not be its biggest day, but it is an important day as the company will not only be offering massive discounts on products across the board, but it will also be monitoring the competition in an attempt to beat the best prices on merchandise as often as possible.

Elsewhere, J.C. Penney Co. (NYSE: JCP) is launching the largest online sale in its history with discounts on more than 30,000 items along with free shipping on purchases over $25. The company started its online deals a day early, starting its deals on Sunday.

Blue Nile (Nasdaq: NILE), which has seen its shares double in the past year, is offering a limited edition diamond tennis bracelet with free overnight shipping on all orders.

The deals being found online are beginning to rival those found in the early morning hours of Black Friday, which could cause a future paradigm shift in how consumers indend to save money during the holiday shopping season.

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