These stores are promising Cyber Monday deals

“Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The term "Cyber Monday" was created by marketing companies to persuade people to shop online.” Wikipedia

And so in South Africa, true to our “liker-of-thingsness” we will be enjoying Cyber Monday too. There has been much consumer dismay with this year’s #BlackFriday specials. Major e-tailer sites crashed and were not able to maintain the massive traffic that hit them on Friday, but there was also an outcry that the so-called specials were nothing but false advertising and really a ploy.

We checked out a few major retailers that have taken to the streets to “promote” #CyberMonday to see what’s in store for you, but they aren’t letting the cat out of the bag. Stores we are sure will have something “special” this Monday are; Makro, Raru, Takealot (who we hope will have no technical glitches), Spree, and Zando!

One social media user commented, “Takealot - I get that you struggled with your site today, s*it happens, but the fact that you wasted so many people's time with your 'sale' is disgusting and deplorable. It wasn't a sale, it was simply the same products you always have at the exact same prices. Pampers is an example. Why waste our time? Why don't you take a leaf out of Raru and Loot's book and actually give your loyal customers something good? You are preying on people who don't keep track of your normal prices. Not cool at all.”

So, the question then beckons, will #CyberMonday - #BlackFriday’s favourite cousin, be at all worth the data to load the site? Granted the noise has not been as loud as with #BlackFriday. A few reasons we could think of is the cost of data in SA but most importantly is the infrastructure of most retailers – very few SA retailers have gotten the hang of online shopping. We’ve seen many a site crash at the word 'sale'.

Also, because of the nature of store sizes, stock availability, and the fact that most people cannot take time off work to go queue for sales – most stores have extended their #BlackFriday sales for the weekend and some, for the rest of the month.

So our dear cousin will have to have really good value for money sales and maybe free delivery.

Remember to stay within budget and look out for dodgy sites; do not give away your banking pin ever. Stay safe on these sale streets!

ALSO READ: How to be a smarter online shopper