Check Out the online deals planned for next Monday.

Most online shops are touting special promotions for Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving when, admit it, you use your high-speed Internet connection at work to check out sales.  This year’s promotions — including a lot of free shipping — are crucial as retailers try to lure in shoppers who have been pulling back on spending ahead of the traditional holiday selling season.
 
SpendingPulse said Sunday that U.S. sales of everything from apparel to appliances plunged in the first two weeks of November, as consumers are cutting back on everything but necessities in this tough economy.  
 
Nearly 84 percent of online retailers plan to have a Cyber Monday promotion, up from 72 percent who planned Cyber Monday deals last year, according to a survey by online shopping site Shopzilla for Shop.org, the Internet division of the National Retail Federation.

In early November, Internet sales did not perform as poorly as the overall lot, according to SpendingPulse, the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, an arm of MasterCard Worldwide.  Online sales showed the most modest decline of the period, at 7.5 percent. 

“It’s still very, very challenging. We’ve been seeing a deteriorating retail environment for some time, but in the last 10 days of October things started to deteriorate rapidly. That’s continuing in November,” said Michael McNamara, vice president of SpendingPulse.

Also in the basket:

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Bra for the boys an online bestseller in Japan

Making a Bundle on Mervyn’s (WSJ, subscription required) 
 
For Luxury Brands, Less Money to Spend on Ads (NY Times)

(Reuters photo)