Cyber Monday the second Monday before Christmas: Atlas Institute

This year's Cyber Monday, traditionally seen as the busiest day for online sales, is predicted to be December 10, according to the Atlas Institute's seventh annual Holiday Online Shopping Report.

According to the report, Mondays are the biggest transaction days during the holiday season. This year, Cyber Monday will come one day earlier than last year's, and it will be the biggest shopping day, based on holiday shipping deadlines.

“The reason why we think the peak day has gotten closer to Christmas is because of the shipping,” said John Chandler, principal analyst at Atlas. “If you go to a lot of the big e-commerce sites, they will tell you which day it will arrive on that's pushed the peak day closer to Christmas.”

The report predicts that Monday, December 17, will be the second highest online shopping day, with consumers closing in on shipping deadlines.

The study found that this year, more new people will come online to shop. Interestingly, it says that Internet activity will not match online transactions, as consumers will use the Web for research but may go into stores to purchase. Advertisers should consider this when making plans, said Chandler.

“Ad consumption peaks later than the shopping peak,” added Chandler. “The online crush is when people come online and buy from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. That is followed by the offline rush, where consumers are shopping online, but using the Internet to do research and comparison shopping.”