Cyber Monday expected to last until Christmas

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Cyber Monday is a day to get all your holiday shopping done without the lines. It's a day that traditionally offers Black Friday deals for online shoppers. Those deals may last longer than just 24 hours.

"We have Cyber Monday for the next three weeks," Purdue Professor of Retail Management and Consumer Behavior Richard Feinberg said.

Unlike past years the growing popularity and preference of online shopping is making retailers keep their deals up so any shopper can get them no matter when they choose to shop.

"This year on Cyber Monday there may be a spike [in Internet sales], but the spike won't be very dramatic," Feinberg said. "Internet shopping started a week ago and deals will continue to happen until the day before Christmas."

Although Cyber Monday may be changing it will still bring in money.

"Cyber Monday this year [will bring in about] $1 billion," Feinberg said. "It's 18 percent higher from last year."

"We had a steady crowd all day," Owner of Lafayette's Red Poppy Joanna Retherford said. "I'd say our sales were about 50 percent higher than a normal Saturday."

On Cyber Monday local small business owners, like Retherford, were counting the sales from Small Business Saturday. Participating businesses in Lafayette and West Lafayette saw some of the best sales days for the third year in a row.

"Our holiday open house is also big," Owner of The Wild Bird Shoppe Judy Gasvoda-Ward said. "Our stuff in the Spring is well-attended. [Small Business Saturday] is a big draw and it helps the bottom line."

Gasvoda-Ward had her third successful Small Business Saturday. It was Retherford's first.

"It was a lot of people's first time at Red Poppy," Retherford said. "They came in to sit down and relax for a few hours. Sales were definitely the best in the tea room."

Retherford and Gasvoda-Ward were not doing cyber deals. Feinberg said this year internet sales will make up 10 percent of holiday shopping.