Black Friday. The phrase conjures images of long lines of rowdy shoppers fighting over cashmere sweaters or the new “it” toy of the year. Arriving at the mall to find the item that you traveled an hour and a half in bad traffic for no longer available or being fought over by rowdy crowds.  This image is best described in the words of Joseph Conrad, “The Horror, The Horror!”  However, a new holiday tradition is starting to surpassing the old—Cyber Monday, a new, line-free successor to Black Friday. Cyber Monday, the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend, is the day retailers post special promotions and sales comparable in savings to those of Black Friday store sales. According to the National Retail Federation survey, 226 million people took to stores this year on Black Friday to take in the steals ‘n’ deals offered by retailers. These shoppers spent $52.4 billion, which comes out to an average of $398 a person.
However, Cyber Monday is catching up in sales and popularity. According to CNNmoney.com, this year Cyber Monday sales reached a record breaking $1.25 billion in sales, a 22% increase from the previous year. 22.9 million people went online to purchase items on Cyber Monday according to shop.org.
In recent years, the crowds that have come out for Black Friday have turned violent. In 2007, Jdimytai Damour, a 34 year old employee of a Wal-Mart in Long Island, New York was trampled to death by shoppers as they rushed into the store at a door buster sale. Unfortunately, this is not the only episode of crowds transforming from civilized to barbaric. YouTube is littered with video clips of shoppers gone mad at door buster sales; discounts turning normally nice people into raging ruffians willing to knock anyone down to get their item. The violence seen on Black Friday mornings demonstrates that this event is no longer safe or beneficial to shoppers.
Considering the increased violence and headaches that come with Black Friday shopping, the emergence of Cyber Monday as an alternative to Black Friday is a move in the right direction for both customers and retailers-- they can have their fruitcake and eat it too.  Customers have a wider variety of items to choose from and a larger inventory of items than in a brick and mortar store. Shopping becomes more convenient. People can stay at home with their families and enjoy the holiday and avoid the inconveniences of shopping that kill the holiday spirit; bad traffic in bad weather, long impatient lines to wait for shops to open, and the grabby brutality of fellow shoppers.
Retailers benefit by getting a large volume of sales without the hassle of Black Friday store logistics; having enough security and staff to deal with the large influx of customers that barge through their doors and sufficient inventory in each store to meet customer demands. Retailers have a wider audience to market their sales to. They are no longer limited to selling to people living in the vicinity of one of the stores like they traditionally have done with Black Friday advertisements.  They can reach out to people all over the country that would potentially buy their product.
Cyber Monday also allows small businesses and artisans to get in on the action.  Individual sellers on Etsy can choose to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Etsy is a website that allows individual artisans and businesses to open a virtual store a kin to eBay stores, where they can feature their handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. Each shop owner can decide what they want to put on sale and what percentage they want off an item by either giving customers a coupon or marking down items in their shops. Cyber Monday allows these sellers to get an edge on their holiday sales by participating - previously a privilege only large retailers and big box stores were able to offer.
In short, Cyber Monday’s increasing popularity and sales have  a ways to go before they are even with Black Friday sales. It is the less frustrating alternative for customers to get the items they want from both big and small retailers at the price their pocket books can agree with. I for one will try to forgo the lines on Black Friday, for the comfy recesses of my desk chair and warm, cozy bunny slippers.