NEW YORK (AP) - Get ready for the stretched version of the Cyber Monday online sales wars.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is making all of its "Cyber Monday" online discounts available on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The discounts will be offered starting at 8 p.m Eastern time. A year ago, the nation's largest retailer only offered a sneak peak of about 20 deals on the evening before what's considered the biggest online sales day of the year. It's also quadrupling the assortment of deals to 2,000.
Meanwhile, Target announced that for the first time it will be offering a 15 percent site-wide discount on Cyber Monday. It will also have an extra 75 heavily discounted items on that day that include 50 percent off kids' cameras and 50 percent off select headphones.
Fernando Madeira, president and CEO of Walmart.com, told The Associated Press that it wants to make it easier for customers to get ahead of Cyber Monday and save on the top selling gifts. Among some of the deals: an LG 65-inch HDTV for $799, a $500 savings, and an Air Hogs video drone for $75, a $34 savings. "We are simplifying the experience," Madeira said.
The name "Cyber Monday" was coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation's online arm, called Shop.org, to encourage people to shop online. The name was also a nod to online shopping being done at work where faster connections made it easier to browse.
Now, even with broadband access, Cyber Monday continues to be a day when retailers pull out big promotions. In fact, the Monday after Thanksgiving generated nearly $2.04 billion in online sales last year, up 17 percent from the previous year according to research firm comScore Inc. That represented the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass $2 billion in sales, said the firm, which tracks online sales. For many retailers, it's not the biggest online sales day, however.