SmallBusinessNewz

Small businesses that don't have something planned for Cyber Monday may want to reconsider.  It looks like the vast majority of retailers intend to hold a promotion of one sort or another, which could make acknowledging the shopping event a semi-necessity.

A National Retail Federation statement announced, "According to Shop.org's eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, nearly nine in ten (87.1%) retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 83.7 percent last year and 72.2 percent in 2007.  The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (42.9%), one-day sales (32.9%), and free shipping on all purchases (15.7%)."

If everybody else is offering bargains, it'll be hard for small businesses that don't to compete.  And Cyber Monday is one of the bigger shopping days of the holiday season, so failing to attract customers just then would be unfortunate.

If you can't manage to squeeze the margins any more, though, here are a couple of comforting thoughts.  First, Cyber Monday is only one day.  There'll be plenty of time to deal with people when they're not trampling each other for $600 plasma TVs.

Also, if a potential customer has been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a Cyber Monday sale, and you don't hold one, they may make a purchase, anyway, figuring that the situation isn't going to get any better.