Some estimates are near a half-billion dollars. A Chicago-based executive outplacement firm estimates that on the Monday following Thanksgiving, also known as Cyber Monday, online shoppers could cost employers $488 million as they kick off their holiday shopping season —on company time. Productivity loss will be big, says Challenger, basing its estimates on average salaries & the average number of minutes spent.
But others say Cyber Monday [is] a "marketing myth," as the Monday after Thanksgiving is actually the 12th biggest online shopping day of the year.
It's not even the first big day of the season. For most online retailers, the bigger spending day of the season to date was way back on Nov. 22, three days before Black Friday. What's more, most e-tailers say the season's top spending day comes between around Dec. 5 and Dec. 15.