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Did Cyber Monday outshine Black Friday this year?

Early reports suggest that Americans shopped more enthusiastically online for holiday bargains than they did in stores on Black Friday.

Cyber Monday sales rose 14% this year compared to 2008 and consumers also bought nearly 30% more items per order versus last year, according to research firm Coremetrics.

Also, the firm said shoppers bought 10% more items per order online than they did in stores on Black Friday.

"We are seeing good online buying momentum because people are looking for the very best deals, and are going online for the most convenient way to shop," John Squire, chief strategy officer, Coremetrics, said in a report Tuesday.

Clothing and jewelry e-tailers were the most popular shopping destinations on Cyber Monday. Although department stores saw a 33% increase in traffic to their Web sites, the average order volume actually fell 10% versus last year, the report said.

Kindle top seller at Amazon.com

Cyber Monday, which is the e-tailers version of Black Friday, is the day that e-tailers furiously push big discounts, free gift cards, free shipping and any other gimmick they can think of to entice consumers to spend even more of their holiday shopping dollars online.

Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) spokesman Craig Berman said its wireless Kindle e-reader was the "best-selling item across all of Amazon’s product categories on Monday."

"This November has become the biggest month for Kindle sales since we launched the product two years ago," Berman said. But he declined to disclose how many Kindle units have been sold over that period.

Also, Berman said the e-tailer sold out of its Cyber Monday deal of the day, which was an 8GB iPod Touch for $158.

Other hot sellers Monday included the hugely popular Zhu Zhu pet hamsters, which are sold on Amazon through third party vendors.

Although the retail price of each hamster is $9.99, Berman said some of the hamsters, such as Mr. Squiggles, were selling for as much as $63 each.

4.3 million shoppers a minute

An average of 4.3 million consumers per minute visited shopping Web sites throughout the day Monday in North America, according to Internet monitoring firm Akamai, which tracks traffic trends to more than 270 e-tailers.

The firm, which monitors North American visitors to sites such as American Eagle Outfitters, Overstock.com, QVC.com and eBags.com, said traffic peaked at about 9:30 p.m. ET, reaching 5.1 million visitors per minute.

Pedro Santos, chief strategist for e-commerce with Akamai, said he expects heavy online traffic to continue on subsequent Mondays leading up to the last shipping day before Christmas.

Here’s a sampling of what other sellers were serving up to customers.

Walmart.com is offering nearly 150 specials on such items as flat panel TVs, gaming systems and toys as well as 97-cent shipping on laptops, digital cameras and MP3 players.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) said in a statement the deals are being offered through Friday, but only while supplies last.

For book lovers, Barnesandnoble.com is chopping prices by 50% on all New York Times bestsellers and offering a $10 gift certificate for every $100 purchase.

Still, don’t expect any special deal on Barnes & Noble’s "Nook" eBook reader, which industry experts peg as one of the hottest products this holiday season.

A quick check on the book seller’s Web site showed that if you order the Nook Monday, it won’t be shipped until Jan. 4. And the "extra" incentive to Nook buyers is free shipping and a free gift certificate.

About 96.5 million Americans planned to shop online Monday, up from 85 million in 2008, according to the National Retail Federation.

Despite these expected traffic numbers and heavy discounts, Cyber Monday is still seen as more of a ceremonial start to online holiday shopping.

The busiest online shopping day tends to be later in December, and is the last day that gifts can be shipped to guarantee delivery by Christmas Day.  

Source

CVS Caremark Corp has found a way to stop the Energizer bunny. It will discontinue sales of the company’s alkaline batteries early next year.

The national drug store chain will still offer customers lithium batteries produced by Energizer Holdings Inc, but the move comes as CVS and other retailers narrow the variety of products they sell.

“After testing various options in the battery category in a number of stores, we found that our customers responded best to an offering which included a single ‘national brand’ alkaline, plus Energizer lithium and our own private label batteries,” a spokeswoman said.

CVS said it decided to sell Procter & Gamble Co’s Duracell alkaline batteries and would continue to sell Energizer lithium batteries in all of its stores.

A spokeswoman for Energizer did not return calls seeking comment.

Alkaline batteries account for the majority of U.S. battery sales. Duracell Coppertop is the leading alkaline battery in the United States, with a 41.6 percent share, followed by Energizer Max, which has a 27.8 percent share, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm.

IRI’s data covers the 52 weeks ended on November 1. It includes sales at supermarkets, drugstores and mass market retailers, but excludes sales from Wal-Mart, club stores, gas stations and convenience stores.

Last month, Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz said he expected retailers to make shelf space decisions over the coming weeks. He expected Energizer to get additional space at Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Safeway Inc stores and said it could see a “potential loss” at CVS.

According to Schmitz, Energizer had about $25 million in sales at CVS.

Major U.S. retailers, including CVS, have been putting more emphasis on their private label products. Such goods typically carry lower prices than their branded rivals but are more profitable for the stores. Store-branded household goods have gained popularity during the downturn, as shoppers try to curb their spending.

Private label alkaline battery sales rose 5.5 percent, in dollars, to a 18.9 percent share during the latest 52 week period, according to IRI. Sales of Duracell and Energizer’s top alkaline batteries declined 4.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively, during the same period.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl, editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Leslie Gevirtz)

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Dubai’s Nakheel asked for three of its listed Islamic bonds worth $5.25 billion to be suspended pending details of restructuring plans at its parent company, a move likely aimed at dampening speculation on the bonds.

The request briefly stalled but did not stop trading in the bonds, which are exchanged over the counter and not on the bourse, where the listing is regarded as a technicality.

The request also added to confusion that has reigned in the markets since the Dubai government last week said it would seek debt standstill agreements from creditors to Nakheel and Dubai World, briefly sparking fears of a renewed crisis.

“After the suspension announcement, it took some time on compliance to establish if they could trade, but as of 11:30 they started trading,” Mohieddine Kronfol at Dubai-based fund manager Algebra Capital said.

The three instruments listed on the exchange are a $3.5 billion sukuk due on December 14, a 3.6 billion dirham sukuk ($980.1 million) due on May 13 and a $750 million sukuk due on January 16, 2011.

Nakheel’s December bond was trading at 58 on Monday, according to Thomson Reuters data, having traded as high as 110 on Wednesday before the Dubai government’s announcement. Its 2011 debt was trading at 55.

“They are trying to minimize the huge amount of speculation going on until a definitive statement comes out,” said a Dubai-based fixed income banker.

Nakheel, developer of a series of created islands in the shape of palm trees off Dubai’s coast, said it had asked Nasdaq Dubai to suspend all three of its listed Islamic bonds, or sukuk, “until it is in a position to fully inform the market.”

Nakheel officials were not immediately available to give further details on the suspension.

Nakheel’s first bond, the $3.5 billion sukuk, was widely expected by the market to be repaid on time.

United Arab Emirate stocks tumbled 6 to 7 percent on Monday as the market reopened for the first time since Dubai called for the delay in debt repayments.

The UAE on Sunday offered the country’s banks emergency support and Abu Dhabi said it would provide selective support to Dubai companies.

($1=3.673 Uae Dirham)

(Reporting by John Irish and Jason Benham; editing by Kim Coghill, Thomas Atkins and Karen Foster)

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