Black Friday morphs into Cyber Monday: Let your fingers do the shopping
For several years in a row, Cyber Monday has been the busiest online shopping day of the year. Online businesses offering good deals are stretching that into Cyber Weekend and Cyber Week, but experts warn of scammers.
For several years in a row, Cyber Monday has been the busiest online shopping day of the year. Online businesses offering good deals are stretching that into Cyber Weekend and Cyber Week, but experts warn of scammers.
Experts say 鈥淪uper Saturday鈥� (Dec. 20) is likely to be the busiest single shopping day of the year.
But 鈥淏lack Friday鈥� 鈥� which has become a five-day consumerist extravaganza of what are furiously and incessantly advertised as good deals 鈥� has given a running start to a holiday spending season expected to top $616 billion.
It鈥檚 about to finish up with 鈥淐yber Monday,鈥� when crowd-weary shoppers are meant to go online, computers fired up and credit cards nearby.
There鈥檚 plenty of advice out there.
CNET, which tracks consumer technology breakthroughs and reviews new gear, put together a list of 鈥淏est Cyber Monday 2014 deals.鈥�
鈥淲e're keeping聽a running list of the best deals around the Web, since Cyber Monday is great for scoring deals ahead of the holidays while staying in your pajamas,鈥� CNET announced.
DailyFinance.com has listed 鈥�5 Best Apps for Saving Money on Cyber Monday.鈥�
鈥淛ust like Black Friday, you need a strategy for Cyber Monday,鈥� the company declares. 鈥淗owever, since many Cyber Monday sales aren't revealed until the weekend before or the actual day of, there isn't a lot of time to plan. You need reinforcement 鈥� a way to find the best deals quick. Fortunately, you can download several apps to your smartphone or tablet to save time and money.鈥�
As a bonus app, DailyFinance points to CyberMonday.com, which highlights the best deals from more than 800 online retailers.
Time.com points to the 鈥淭op 10 gadgets of 2014.鈥� Number two on the list is something called the 鈥淪martThings Starter Kit鈥� ($200), which 鈥渃onnects inanimate objects in your house to your phone.鈥�
鈥淯se it to attach sensors to your home and program smart objects from locks to crockpots and soon you鈥檒l be living like the Jetsons,鈥� Time explains.
There are many such lists out there, but our personal favorite is 鈥淏rad鈥檚 Cyber Monday鈥� (no relation), 鈥淗ome to all the best online shopping deals and coupon codes of Thanksgiving Weekend and Cyber Monday 2014.鈥�
For many online shopping powerhouses 鈥� Amazon included 鈥� Cyber Monday has stretched into 鈥淐yber Weekend.鈥� Amazon, in fact, is calling it 鈥淐yber Week鈥� with this come-on: 鈥淲e're bringing you thousands of deals throughout the week. Some Cyber Monday 2014 deals are in limited supply, and all will go quickly 鈥� but don't worry if you miss one, because we'll keep adding new ones, as often as every ten minutes, all week long.鈥�
Shoppers must be lining up there in unusual numbers, because the Amazon site was cranking slower than usual Sunday afternoon.
With all this online shopping, experts say consumers must be more than a little vigilant for scammers.
鈥淭hey know it's Cyber Monday. They know people are out there shopping and they're going to do what they can to try and lure you in,鈥� Michael Kaiser with the National Cyber Security Alliance told CNN.
Mr. Kaiser says consumers must be proactive and take precautions. 鈥淚f they take those common-sense measures 鈥� they update their software, they put in things like two-step verification or multi-factor authentication 鈥� those are things that are in their control.鈥�