Five years after the phrase "Cyber Monday" was coined, retailers have even bigger plans for the Monday after Thanksgiving. According to Shop.org's eHoliday Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, nearly nine in ten (88.2 percent) retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from just 72.2 percent in 2007. Retailers' Cyber Monday plans are more robust this year with nearly half of companies offering specific deals (49.0 percent, up from 42.9 percent last year) and many planning one-day sales (41.2 percent vs. 32.9 percent last year) and free shipping on all purchases (21.6 percent vs. 15.7 percent last year). In addition, the majority of retailers (62.7 percent) will send promotions and deals to shoppers through a special Cyber Monday email.

"When Shop.org coined "Cyber Monday" to illustrate the trend of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving, we never imagined it would become such a popular phrase in the retail dictionary," said Joan Broughton, interim executive director of Shop.org. "Today, Cyber Monday has become such a crucial component of the holiday season that many retailers - and shoppers - don't remember the holidays without it. And just when we think that Cyber Monday can't get any bigger, it does."

Today, Cyber Monday is viewed as the online equivalent to Black Friday: the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season when shoppers flood websites expecting robust promotions and many retailers highlight some of their most compelling online holiday offers.

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