KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Crowds may have eased in store aisles Monday. Still, retailers expect big sales as shoppers do their spending online. At Cabela’s in Village West, the merchant started out selling only through the mail and catalogs.
A disappointing holiday weekend for retailers nationally has many hoping for a rebound online as part of Cyber Monday.
The National Retail Federation says sales dropped over the holiday weekend by 11 percent compared to last year, despite more stores opening earlier on Thanksgiving Day.
At this Cabela’s store, more than 600 people lined up for Black Friday bargains. Although the crowds were good, this retailer recognizes that a lot of it’s customers like to do their shopping over the internet. Even when people make a trip to the store, they often end up at a kiosk ordering online.
“We had a great weekend, but yeah, today is going to be huge for our company,” said Andrew DeBey of Cabela’s. “Online sales, catalog orders that kind of stuff, it’s Christmastime and sometimes people can’t get to the stores to get what they need. It’s bitter cold outside today so we expect a lot of people to be home, shop from their computer and stay warm.”
Earlier and longer lasting promotions may help explain why fewer people were buying over the holiday weekend. The National Retail Federation says more customers are less frantic about chasing deals, and the group predicts even online shopping may be down Monday.
This is still expected to be the busiest online sales day of the year despite online spending surging more than 14 percent on Thanksgiving Day alone.
