Cyber Monday!

"You never know what is enough, unless you know what is more than enough."
-William Blake
MarketWatch Headline, early this morning: Research shows consumers opened their wallets on Black Friday, giving early market sentiment a lift, though credit worries linger.

Good news and not so good news from the Black Friday tallies:
Store traffic was up over 4% from last year…but spending was down 3.5% from the National Day of Shopping Frenzy of last year…numbers courtesy of the National Retail Foundation. Shoppers spent an average of $347 Thursday thru Sunday… The final results of this year’s retail Christmas will not be determined until the final two weeks of December.

How about those early store openings—any of you get up for that thing on Friday morning? 14.3% of shoppers were out and about before 4 a.m. this year compared to 12.4 percent last year…One of our guests, Scott Kays, took the opportunity for some quality father-son bonding, while camping out in front of a Best Buy in Atlanta. Pup tent, Coleman stove, and mass quanitites of hot chocolate consumed while awaiting the portals' opening, and they weren't alone--nearly 300 joined them at that location.

Plan ahead for next year, o ye entrepreneurs: storefront concessions selling hot drinks and warm food should do a land-office business for similar retail locations.

I am told that 1 in 12 –about 8.2%, has finished their holiday shopping. That's just disgusting if you're not through. You can gloat along with the Redeemed if you're finished. Retail Foundation bean counters expect total holiday sales for the November-December period will rise 4 percent to $474.5 billion, its slowest growth rate in five years.

Today is when the other shoe drops…or mouse, as the case may be:
It’s Cyber Monday.
72 million are expected to shop online from home or at work today for after-Thanksgiving bargains. ComScore Networks say today's online sales to surpass $700 million, which could making it the heaviest online spending day on record.

I spent the weekend on the couch with a bottle of Nyquil, a jar of Vick's, and the family mascot, which kept trying to lick-off the Vick's. I conducted a small amount of commerce on line, but pretty much hybernated in a head-cold stupor.

Hope your week is better...