After a busy Thanksgiving week, we found ourselves in the middle of the so-called “Cyber Monday” craziness. Now that we’ve weathered that storm we can reflect on what we’ve learned so far.

• This year, fewer people shopped on Black Friday, but those who did spent more
• If you want to use Netflix but don’t want to spend so much money, try their new $5.99 plan
• There’s nothing wrong with being number 2, especially if you’re a Zune
• T-Mobile can’t be the only place to sell the Blackberry Pearl; Now Cingular has it too
• We really haven’t written enough about Brookstone… these coupons are a good start

Buy.com is joining the Cyber Monday fray with sales on 177 products including TVs, roller shoes, CDs, Video Games, and bags. The deals are even sweeter if you use the $10 off $30 or $20 off $50 Google Checkout coupons.

The biggest sale item appears to be a Philips 42″ Widescreen HDTV Plasma TV for $1249.99 plus free shipping. If you’re buying a TV, you might as well pick up the Sennheiser RS100 Wireless Headphones for only $46.78 and great movies to watch such as The Ultimate Matrix Collection for $37.99. If you’re looking for a huge discounts, check out the ZyXEL X-550 Xtreme MIMO Wireless Broadband Router which retails for $109 but after sale, rebate, and coupon can be your for a mere $21.75. One of the hottest backpacks, the Swiss Army (Wenger) Synergy Laptop Backpack, can be yours for $50 with free shipping. If you’re always on the go, maybe you need roller shoes, because they’re selling Heelys Rebel Roller Shoes for $54.98.

Click here to see all the sale items. Below are the “official” details on the products we mentioned:

Philips USA 42PF7321D – 42 Widescreen HDTV Plasma TV with Pixel Plus Philips USA 42PF7321D 42 Widescreen Plasma TV with Pixel Plus Turn up your viewing experience with Pixel Plus Experience the superior picture quality of this excellent Flat TV with the latest Plasma technology and Pixel Plus. It’s packed into a stunning design that will complement your interior. Share music and photos via the built-in USB.

	Sennheiser RS100 – 900 MHz Wireless Headphones The RS100 is the affordable entry model into Sennheiser’s line of 900 MHz wireless headphones. The RS100 is a light weight and ultra comfortable headphone, allowing for hours of wireless listening enjoyment.

Ultimate Matrix Collection The definitive ten-disc DVD set, The Ultimate Matrix Collection features all three films in the trilogy together for the first time ever with a newly remastered picture and sound for The Matrix. Also included is the companion piece The Matrix Revisited and the best-selling The Animatrix, plus five entirely new DVDs packed solid with brand-new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe, including two new audio commentaries on each film, Enter the Matrix video game footage, 106 deep-delving featurettes/ documentaries and much more!

ZyXEL X-550 Xtreme MIMO Wireless Broadband Router Say Goodbye to Lag Time and Dead-spots! The ZyXEL X-550 XtremeMIMO Broadband Router, featuring up to 108Mbps Super G in Turbo Mode Wireless and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) Smart Antenna Technology, provides the ultimate in speed and coverage – it is also backwards compatible with your standard IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi Networks. When the X-550 connects with non XtremeMIMO products, it extends the range and raises the throughput. With built-in Stream Engine, the X-550 reduces latency and boosts network efficiency for optimal performance. The X-550 intelligently prioritizes network traffic for online gaming, VoIP and other Internet applications transmitting simultaneously. It can be setup with a USB flash drive in seconds by Microsoft Windows Connect Now. Home Networking has never been so exciting!

Synergy Laptop Backpack by Wenger (r) Maker of the Genuine Swiss Army Knife(tm) The Wenger Swiss Army Synergy Backpack is the perfect pack for the techie on the go! Keep your laptop in the padded compartment and all your accessories in the other. Stylish and made of only the finest materials that Wenger could produce! Swiss Gear by Wenger Maker of the Genuine Swiss Army Knife Computer Backpack: gray; nylon/poly; fits most 15.4 notebooks; padded computer pocket; air-flow back padding; shock absorber shoulder straps; music player/headset port; essentials organizer

	Heelys Rebel White Pink Roller Shoes Women/Girls The Heely’s Rebel roller shoes bring you a new style of skating with special wheels housed in the heel. They allow you to transition to a roll at any given moment for coasting fun and original tricks. Remove the detachable wheel and Heely’s instantly transform into a pair of fashionable street shoes.

Link:  Cyber Monday Sale at Buy.com

Wal-Mart‘s “Cyber Monday” deals are really a post-Thanksgiving week-long sale on 51 select items ranging from cookies, to toys, to DVDs.

Looking through the list, we’re drawn to the DeLonghi Steam Cappuccino Espresso Machine for only $39.87, which would go well with the Starbucks Holiday Favorites for $18.22. You can pick up 3 PS2 or Xbox games (from a select list, of course) for only $25. As for gadgets and electronics, there’s a Visco 37″ Widescreen LCD HDTV for $798, a Philips 3 Megapixel Retro Style Ultra Digital Camera for a mere $49, a Kodak 5 Megapixel EasyShare V570 Dual Lens Digital Camera for $218, and a Garmin StreetPilot i5 GPS for $289. Take a look and see if anything sparks your interest.

Link:  Post Thanksgiving “Super Online Specials” at WalMart.com (expires 12/1/06)

If the retail industry wants us all to believe that Cyber Monday is the real deal, then they may want to make a better effort (more on this later in the week). We say this because Macy’s big promotion is nothing more than free shipping on orders over $100. We’re sure some of you will find it valuable, but we’re not impressed.

Link:  Free dhipping on all orders over $100 at Macys (11/27/06 only)

Verizon Wireless is offering a Cyber Monday promotion of buy one Motorola RAZR V3m at $49.99, get another one free. They are also waiving their $35 activation charge and the phones will ship to you for free. This deal requires a 2-year contract for each phone.

This is a decent deal if you’re looking for two phones. Otherwise, Amazon has a better deal on the RAZR V3m.

Link:  Buy one Motorola RAZR V3m for $49.99 and get a second one free (expires 11/27/06)

We just received the latest Cyber Monday deals from The Sports Authority. In addition to 25% off their outlet store, they are offering buy one get one 50% off on both shoes and apparel. We are excited about the 15% off select table games deal as it may finally help us get that Foosball table we’ve always wanted.

Links:  

• 25% off the Sports Authority Outlet
• Buy one get one 50% off Footwear
• Buy one get one 50% off Apparel
• 15% off select table games
• Free shipping on electronics
• 20% off build-your-own skiing packages
• 20% off build-your-own snowboarding packages
• 20% off build-your-own paintball packages
• 25% off build-your-own camping packages

According to The National Retail Federation, Black Friday brought both good news and bad news for retailers. While “only” 140 million people shopped in stores or online this past holiday weekend (including Friday), shoppers spent more than last year. The 58.9 million shoppers for Black Friday itself was actually a million less than in 2005. But, the average shopper spent $360.15 this year, representing an 18.9 percent jump from last year.

Electronics seem to be a big mover this year with flat screen TVs (plasmas and LCDs) finally reaching a more acceptable price range. Where once these products were reserved for the few willing to spend several thousand for high quality brands, today’s prices have moderated significantly and low-cost lesser-brand products are flooding stores from Wal-Mart to Best Buy. While supplies for desirable products such as the TMX Elmo and the recently launched Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii were small, many people went to stores hoping to find one only to walk out with other products.

We wonder whether the increased spending will actually translate to higher profits for retailers. As we previously noted, disappointing sales early in the year (likely driven by economic slowdown and gas prices) pushed many retailers to offer more and deeper discounts in hopes of resurrecting their annual numbers. Low prices may increase sales but smaller margins won’t help the bottom line.

Photo by Flickr user cerealfan

Leading off Cyber Monday is a 15% off coupon at The Body Shop

Link:  15% off each order at The Body Shop; To redeem, click here and use coupon code TIME26 (11/27/06 only)

It was our first Thanksgiving together and if you’re like us and you chose to shop online (rather than get trampled at 5AM in front of your favorite big box store) then you learned that:

• Just in time for the holidays, Google Checkout coupons are back
• The best TiVo is a free free TiVo
• Why buy the same old gifts when you can but something really unique?
• You will need a bigger bag to carry all those gifts back home
• The only thing that can bring down Amazon.com is a $100 Xbox