The online retail event known as Cyber Monday has gained momentum in recent years, but does it live up to the hype in terms of revenue?
For Morinda, a Utah-based marketer of wellness products, the answer is yes. The company first introduced Cyber Monday promotions in 2015, and was rewarded with a 300 percent increase in sales over its second-best business day of the year.
“Cyber Monday is the Black Friday of the Internet,” said Shon Whitney, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Morinda. “It was a huge opportunity for our Independent Product Consultants last year, and we wanted to make that opportunity even more accessible this year.”
To up the ante this Cyber Monday, Morinda gave customers the chance to buy products in bulk, effectively discounting unit prices while commissions paid out to distributors, calculated by volume, remained the same. “To our knowledge, this is the first time any company in our industry has made an offer like this,” said Whitney. Morinda also leveraged new product releases, gift bundles and free shipping.
With these incentives in place, the response from shoppers was enthusiastic. Management reports that sales on Cyber Monday, Nov. 28, were four times higher than the company’s average sales day.
According to data published by Adobe Digital Insights, online sales this Cyber Monday hit a record $3.45 billion, up 12 percent from a year ago. Mobile generated $1.07 billion of that revenue—34 percent more than last year—and accounted for 47 percent of visits to retail websites. Of those visits, 38 percent were via smartphone and 9 percent via tablet.
