By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
It’s Amazon’s ground zero on Cyber Monday, when packages whiz by on conveyor belts at the online retailer’s million-square-foot distribution warehouse in Robbinsville.
Orders poured in last year at 629 per second — 54 million items. Robots deliver racks of merchandise to pickers who toss items into bins that get whisked away for packaging and labeling with scannable addresses.
“And we anticipate that Cyber Monday this year will be even bigger. Now it’s really people can shop on their phones — they can shop anywhere, anytime. So it’s become more of a season of deals. And our Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales certainly reflected that customers are shopping all season,” said Amazon Spokesperson Julie Law.
“I also like doing Cyber Monday. I love it,” said Kelly Brophy, a Lawrenceville resident.
She’s looking forward it.
“I want to see what kind of deals are out,” she said.
“And I think a lot of things online are cheaper now,” said another Lawrenceville resident, Shawn Richardson. “Better deals, yes.”
Will she spend more or less?
“I’m going to spend less,” she said.
In fact, from Thanksgiving through Sunday, shoppers did spend less — a 3.5 percent drop from last year, according to a National Retail Federation study. And fewer shoppers hit the stores — with a 3.7 percent dip in sales on Main Street. Compare that to a 4.2 percent increase in online shopping.
“So, big increase in mobile numbers. The amount of people shopping and browsing on their devices this year,” said NRF Vice President Artemis Berry.
As shopping trends continue to move online and away from bricks and mortar, how can states keep up with collecting sales taxes?
“Well, it really comes down to the federal government — whether they’ll allow that or not. There have been many states — going back many, many years — that thought it was only fair because you’re only taxing bricks and mortar and online sales are going through the roof,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney.
In New Jersey, online retailers with a physical presence in the state are supposed to charge sales tax. And Amazon collects sales tax in 23 states, including New Jersey.
“In the state of New Jersey and in every state we operate, we follow all of the state guidelines,” Law said.
With 80 to 90 percent of retailers offering cyber deals. Hot items include Amazon’s Echo Dot, which links you to a voice-activated, cloud-dwelling helper named Alexa.
The online buying boom prompted cyber security experts to warn shoppers to never place orders over a public, unsecured Wi-Fi system. Cybercrooks can snag your credit card information and make your holidays a lot less merry.