By all accounts Cyber Monday 2018 was a roaring success With according to the most popular estimate 79 billion in online sales the result beat forecasts for the day and represents a 197 percent increase over 2017s 66 billion in sales It was good enough to be the biggest online shopping day in US history and to get the recently turbulent stock market surging by the end of Monday afternoon And given the more is more aesthetic that tends to pervade US consumer culture during the holiday season it should come as no surprise that Cyber Monday didnt exactly end on Cyber Monday In much the same way that Black Friday has become a month-long event that kicks off on Nov 1 Cyber Monday has begun its drift outward staking out real estate in the entire week that follows Among the merchants that kept the sales holiday alive for a few extra days this year were Amazon Target Walmart Best Buy Gap Brands Saks Fifth Avenue Wayfair Birchbox JCPenney JCrew Puma Shutterstock and LLBean just to name a few on a list that goes on and on and on And while some of the big extensions this year were due to technical issues as Cyber Monday generated a bit more enthusiasm than some merchants were expecting much of them seem strategic Because psychologically speaking timed sales are a good way to get customers spending The Technical Foibles While too much consumer interest doesnt sound like much of a problem for a retailer to face it can quickly become an issue when all of that interest shows up at once and crashes the website It was a situation that recurred a few times during Cyber Monday leaving some retailers scrambling to extend their sales just to make sure that everyone who tried to buy on the big day was actually able to complete their purchase Many retailers are experiencing tech issues with their servers perhaps underestimating how many people would shop online said consumer savings expert and personal finance blogger Andrea Woroch Among notable names hit with technical difficulties throughout the day was Shutterfly which ended up sending an apology email to its customers before inviting them back for their extended Cyber Monday on Tuesday Lenox hit similar issues and wrote a similar apology that noted not every order could be processed Jewelry company BaubleBar was a bit more complimentary to shoppers in its apology Your amazing response to our Cyber Monday event was overwhelming both to us and unfortunately to our site as well the firm wrote before noting it had extended its Cyber Monday sale until Wednesday Other retailers like Old Navy saw their sites crash wholesale while Newegg and Walmart both experienced server issues during the holiday sales weekend The Strategy of the Extended Sale For all the retailers that expanded their promotions because they had to for one technical reason or another a good deal more seemed to have done so purely voluntarily Cyber Monday it seems cant be contained to a single day as of 2018 So why not just anoint the entire week Cyber Week Well according to some experts doing so might actually be bad for sales Scarcity has a tendency to boost sales Customers are more likely to purchase an item if they believe it is about to go out of stock or if they believe they are at risk of losing a discount And restricting time is an especially powerful tactic in influencing a customers wants One study showed when healthy food options were made available as a limited time offer shoppers could be induced to choose fruits and vegetables over items like pizza and ice cream which were not advertised as available for a limited time only Scarcity according to the study can be used as a weapon of influence Retailers have been extending their Cyber Monday sales but often changing them There are deals every day of the week but the specifics may differ But then sales and rotating deals are common throughout the holiday season even if they dont happen to fall on a day or week or month with a special title Retail blogger Rick Broida from The Cheapskate noted that as easy as it is to get swept up in the various deals that crop up between Thanksgiving and Christmas they arent quite the event that they are marketed to be Im here to tell you that every day is Black Friday and Cyber Monday There will be some solid deals this November no doubt about it but I see similar ones all year he recently wrote But with the holiday season shopping season now in its prime time the rest of the year probably matters a good deal less to shoppers than the right now And right now it is still Cyber Monday in some places even if the calendar says that its actually Thursday LATEST INSIGHTS Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation thats reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem Check out the latest PYMNTS report on Mobile Order-Ahead