Holidays bring big sales for retail businesses and, while consumers are thinking about holidays such as Christmas, retail store owners concentrate on retail holidays such as Green Monday, the second Monday in December and a day noted for its online sales spike. Given its name by an eBay® representative in 2006, this day represents one of the largest spending days for consumers and has remained a huge spending day since it was identified. There are similar holidays, such as Cyber Monday, Black Friday and Green Tuesday, but Green Monday has shown the best sales for online stores. Brick-and-mortar retail stores also see large sales on this day.
Green Monday existed for years before the day was named by an eBay® representative. It is the second Monday in December, and the green portion represents all the money spent by consumers. Some people erroneously believe the green refers to the sale's eco-friendly nature, but this is not the official meaning. The day was named in 2006, when sales for most online stores was 33 percent higher than they were the previous day, showing a huge spike in both sales and profit.
Online stores mostly see the sales from Green Monday, but some brick-and-mortar stores see the increase, as well. The shopping holiday is believed to fall when it does because most items bought online need shipping, which takes about two weeks to get to the destination. This means many people make online purchases on the second Monday of December to allow time for shipping, boosting online sales in the process. Many online stores, understanding this shipping problem and knowing how much can be made, have either made free shipping promotions on this day, or reduce the regular shipping charge on this day.
While Green Monday is the largest retail holiday, there are other retail holidays to be celebrated. Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, affects brick-and-mortar stores more than online stores. Cyber Monday is Black Friday for online stores, and online sales skyrocket. This is the Monday directly after Thanksgiving, and the title was coined years before the second Monday in December got its green moniker.
Green Tuesday is the day after Green Monday. This title was coined in 2009, because Green Monday sales dropped by 1 percent, while the subsequent Tuesday saw a 21 percent increase in sales, pushing it slightly above the previous day’s sales. Regardless of Monday slipping slightly, it is still a huge online retail holiday.
While Green Monday is seen as the largest online sales day of the year, it doesn’t mean retailers ignore the other retail holidays. To maximize sales, retailers focus on every holiday. Conversions and sales on all of these holidays are huge, and refusing to focus on any retail holiday can devastate a store.
