Cyber Monday: A Big Yawn

You probably haven't noticed it, but today has been designated by marketing mavens as "Cyber Monday," which is supposed to be the online shopping equivalent of the "Black Friday" shopping extravaganza the day after Thanksgiving. Do they actually pay marketing folks to dream up this kind of idiocy? The whole point of shopping online is that you don't have to brave the hand-to-hand combat in the malls in person. You can shop whenever you want, however you want, at your time and schedule.

Designating a single day for people to buy online is completely without purpose. But then again, that's what they pay marketing folks for, isn't it?

The marketing crowd will have you believe that Cyber Monday would be filled with great deals to draw people online, in the same way that Black Friday is designed to bring people to the stores.

In my own unscientific survey, I found precisely zero deals. Amazon wasn't offering any specials. Either was Buy.com, or any of the other online retailers I checked out.

This is no surprise. Internet shopping sites don't need gimmicks to get people online -- they're already there.Chalk this idea up to yet one more example of why marketing folks just don't get it.