Ecommerce giants extend Black-Friday and Cyber-Monday sales days

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the biggest Ecommerce websites are gearing up for Black-Friday and Cyber-Monday sales, with each one trying to take top spot on the busiest shopping days of the year.

The 2 main websites taking Thanksgiving sales days to the next level are Amazon and WalMart.

Black-Friday, mainly a retail sales day which lasts all of Friday the day after Thanksgiving, has not only become the biggest sales day of the year, but also kicks off the holiday shopping season. The growing popularity of Black-Friday over the last few years has sprouted an Ecommerce variant called Cyber-Monday on the following Monday after Thanksgiving. American Ecommerce giants, and most notably, Amazon and WalMart are taking a different approach this year and are extending their sales days with incentives to get shoppers in their online stores early this year.

Black-Friday kicks off the shopping season later than usual this year, and shortens the shopping season by 6 days. Because of the shorter than usual shopping season, Amazon has already begun their sales this sunday, November 24, and is offering Black-Friday deals 5 days in advance. WalMart has also taken the next step and is starting their Cyber-Monday sales this coming Saturday, November 30, offering online deals for 3 days, rather than just the one. Retail stores are also altering themselves for the shortened season, and are planning on opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day rather than the day after.

With preparing for the sales days, WalMart has already announced that they are lowering the minimum price for free shipping from $50 to $35 to match Amazon’s pricing. Amazon, who raised the minimum price for free shipping this year from $25 to $35, will be offering their popular lightning deals on dozens of high profile items, with the deals being made available every 10 minutes.

It is expected that this year will see an all-time high in Black-Friday sales being completed online, as more people are deciding to take their shopping needs to their computers rather than the dangerous lines outside retail stores, which over the past few years has seen a rise in injuries and even deaths from people being trampled by fierce holiday crowds looking for low prices.

With China's sales day (the Single's day) record breaking year reaching $5.75 billion in sales within 24 hours, the US is also expected to break their own record, which was over $1 billion in Ecommerce sales in 2012.

Is your store ready for the busiest sales days of the year? Check out our 4 tips to get your online store ready for the holiday season, to make sure you are prepared.

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