As anyone who shops online is well aware, today is Cyber Monday, the day where online retailers strut their best deals in order to capture more holiday shoppers.  The days following Thanksgiving are among the most important for the retail industry as many workers have those days off.  More recently, ecommerce sites have latched onto the concept in trying to grab market share and capture the attention of workers returning to their desks still with holiday shopping in mind.  Judging by the markets first reaction to retail stocks following the important weekend, it seems that increased traffic to ecommerce web sites has trumped the mixed results from bricks-and-mortar retail outlets.

Initial reports from bricks-and-mortar retail spending over the weekend are mixed as overall spending was up about .5%, but that is compared to very rough spending from a year agoAMZN when the U.S. financial system appeared to be near a meltdown.  In general, foot traffic was up but average spending was down.  Considering the fact that many retailers have shuttered stores in the last year (Circuit City and Linens ‘N Things come to mind), you would expect the remaining stores to have more shoppers all other things being equal.  According to the National Retail Federation, 195 million shoppers sought out discounts last weekend a 13% up-tick from last year.  However, shoppers were more disciplined spenders this year, on average spending $343 down 8% from a year ago and the lowest in four years. 

A mixed picture indeed, as overall spending inched up but the shopping activity was likely limited beyond deeply discounted sale items and should put pressure on retail margins. In response to the results over the weekend, in Monday trading nearly all bricks-and-mortar retailer stocks suffered on the day with Saks (SKS), Macy’s (M), GameStop (GME) and Barnes and Noble (BKS) among the worst decliners.

In contrast, ecommerce sites like Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) were treated to gains in Monday’s market action.  A survey by Shop.org states that 100 million Americans will shop online on Cyber Monday versus 85 million a year ago.  Ecommerce sites often offer no cost shipping and are afforded easy marketing through emailing promotions to existingEBAY customers.  Perhaps the biggest advantage is the hassle free shopping experience.  However, this year “Cyber Monday” deals started as early as Thanksgiving Day as there was really no reason to hold back sales for Monday.  Payment processing service Paypal, owned by eBay, said that its Black Friday transactions increased 20% from last year.

Clearly, ecommerce and bricks-and-mortar stores are not always at odds as many retailers like Best Buy (BBY) and Walmart (WMT) are increasing the percentage of sales derived online.  However, it is clear that the overall trend shows shoppers are logging-on more often and hitting the malls less.  This could mean additional concerns for commercial real estate going forward.  If early holiday shopping is an indication shoppers will likely continue looking for deals and are less likely to buy on impulse.  And you can bet that more consumers than ever will do most of this from the comfort of the web.

Cyber Monday: The New Black Friday