Are you taking a CyberMonday Shopping Break Today?

  Depending on who you listen to, the  Monday after Thanksgiving is the least productive workday of the year. Why? Because it's CyberMonday. As Single Ma's Fabulous Financials blogs,

"Last year, it was reported that 59% of Cyber Monday online shopping was via work computers, so employers are warned of decreased productivity levels. Imagine that! "Sorry boss, but I can't work today because I need to shop for a flat screen." Ha!"

CNN.Money is also reporting on the tendency of people to do their CyberMonday shopping at work. In an article that features research by Shopping.org - the folks that are home to CyberMonday.com     retailers are definitely offering "serious" discounts today. In return, employees say they'll be taking a Cybermonday Shopping Break.

"More than one-third of the 1,890 consumers surveyed for the report said they will use Internet access at work to browse or buy gifts online this holiday season. More than half of young adults the ages of 18 to 24, and nearly half of those aged 25 to 34 said they would shop online during work hours. Among the most-shopped categories last year on Cyber Monday were jewelry, consumer electronics, gourmet food, furniture and home décor, the report said."

Note: At 7:46 a.m. CST the site was down-- Could it be that folks on the East Coast were so eager to get an early start on their shopping that there was an online traffic jam? Whether or not CyberMonday is the biggest online shopping day of the year is debatable. Cleverhack dot com, a blog written by a self-described geek in her early 30s says Cyber Monday is more spin than reality.

"Speaking as a person formerly involved in E-commerce, I can tell you that Black Friday and the upcoming Cyber Monday won’t be all that. Sure, the weekend will be good for online retailers, but these won’t be the busiest days for online retailers during the 2006 Holiday Season. In fact, the busiest days for online retailers this year will be December 12th and 13th. The reason? Christmas is on a Monday this year, and that pushes up the last day for a package to ship via UPS Ground within the Continental US to Friday, December 15th. (You can spec out a shipment on the UPS Web site to see what I mean.) Many retailers will use the 14th as an extra day for shipping and handling and to sort out issues on their end. With that cleared up, there are a ton of great deals online and the bloggers are buzzing. The bulk of e-commerce shoppers are those who would rather not go shopping in brick and mortar stores, hence the waiting until the second week of December to shop, but who also don’t want to be bothered with expedited shipping expenses and/or waiting for a package to arrive at the last minute."

So if you are planning on shopping at work today, where should you go? Google Checkout,in an attempt to drive sales from Paypal,is making a major push to entice new users. From that DAMN PC,

"Best Advice: be proactive and seek out promo codes from online shopping sites; AOL consumer advisor Regina Lewis says the risk of sellout is high and advises us to shop wisely by letting technology do the hard work for us. Let online sites do your comparison shopping for you: Shopzilla.com, NextTag, etc. Also: Shop at night! Let your insominia work to your advantage. [FoxNews.com] You may also locate tech sale deals at: Boddit Fat Wallet, Slick Deals, Tech Bargains, Deal News, Deal Catcher, Anand Tech Ben’s Bargains Got a sales tip for online shopping? Please share here! Happy Cyber Monday!"

And,from my friend Lydia (not her real name) check out Restaurants.com where you can purchase a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant for just $10.

Have a great day.Save a lot.

Image Credit: Flickr Member Judy B
This is cross-posted at BlogHer.