Cyber Monday 2017: what is it and where are the best deals?

The UK is expected to experience its busiest online shopping days of the year next week. Dubbed Cyber Monday, online retailers are offering day-long discounts in the lead up to Christmas...

What exactly is Cyber Monday?

It is essentially the online equivalent of Black Friday but with less risk of serious injury. It falls on the first Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States, so this year is on the 27 November. Instead of battling with rival shoppers to grab the latest bargains in the shops, consumers head to the internet to spend billions of pounds on limited-time deals.

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Why is it held on Monday?

The first Monday of December has historically been the busiest online shopping day of the year, according to data analysis by credit card firm Visa. But Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, has been cemented in the retailing calendar through clever marketing and big discounts by online stores. The name Cyber Monday is believed to have been coined in 2005 in America and is growing each year in terms of recognition.

The UK has embraced the tradition in the last few years, although it is sometimes called Mega Monday on this side of the pond. Bryan Roberts, a retail analyst at Kantar Retail, tells the BBC the hype and huge number of projections surrounding the day means it is a “self-fulfilling prophecy” as consumers are reminded to go online and do their Christmas shopping.

How much is expected to be spent?

Last year, British shoppers spent an estimated £1.1 billion on Cyber Monday alone, bringing the total spent over the discount period to £6 billion.

According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 51% of UK shoppers plan to shop over Black Friday and Cyber Monday and three quarters of all spending will be done online or by mobile.

This means a record haul is predicted to be spread across 15 million internet shoppers - Cyber Monday has always been a strictly online-only event, as opposed to Black Friday, which occurs both in stores and the web.

However, despite the huge amount of money changing hands in both the US and UK, the numbers pale in comparison with China’s equivalent, known as Singles’ Day, where a potential market of 500 million consumers spent an estimated £25 billion this year.

What deals are on offer?

Unlike Black Friday where prices are slashed on everything, from gadgets to toys to airline tickets, Cyber Monday has traditionally been more focused on new technology, electronics and gaming.

Amazon is once again leading the way, with a range of discounts on Amazon Prime memberships, Amazon Echo deals, the new Echo Show, Echo Plus (with built in smart home hub), the all-new Fire TV supporting 4k and with Alexa voice control, Echo Connect and Echo Buttons. They have slashed the price of the new Echo Plus down to £109.99 (RRP £139.99) and their most popular e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite down to £79.99

Among the picks of Argos’s offers are discounts on Alba 10” 16GB tablets, Hitachi 43HB6J02U 43-inch Full HD / DVD combination TVs, Zinc Smart X hoverboards, and over half off Dyson V6 Absolute cordless handstick vacuum cleaners. Argos are also offering to half price off many toys, 25% off indoor furniture when you spend over £150, and buy one get one half price on jewellery.

Very.co.uk has slashed the price of selected Beats by Dre in-ear headphones by £40 - making their sale price just £49.99 as part of the brand’s early deals.

Instax has confirmed that the colourful Mini 9, point-and-shoot Mini 70, the SP-2 instant printer, and the SQ10 hybrid cam era will all go down in price between now and Monday.

Sony have unveiled a huge range of PlayStation gaming deals. The deals live on the PlayStation Store include all current PlayStation platforms - from PS4 to PSVR, PS3 to PS Vita. Titles like Wolfenstein II, GT Sport and The Evil Within 2 are all already down to £25.

“If you’re a fan of GT Sport, Fifa 18, The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and many more, you can save up to 60% off some big names,” Sony explains.

Sony have also revealed that new PS4 console deals will also be going live this week, with different title combos down to £299.99 RRP. PS Plus subscribers can access discounts early but everyone else will have to wait until this Thursday with deals set run over the weekend and expiring at midnight on Monday.

Business Insider says there might also be some rare opportunities to get deals on Apple Watches, which are expensive and rarely go on sale. Here is a list of retailers offering time-limited discounts compiled with the help of Apple news blog MacRumours.

The deals announced so far are primarily for older Apple Watch models, but they’re still great gets — especially for people who don’t necessarily need the latest model.

Any tricks to shopping on Cyber Monday?

“Customers often bookmark the products they have their eye on and set alarms for the exact moment the sales launch on each site”, says The Sun, however, with so much choice it is easy to pay more than you need for a product while caught up in the shopping frenzy.

The trick, says the Sun, is to be prepared with a list of what you’d like before you start browsing and do your research to be sure you are getting a bona fide deal.