Walmart shifts Cyber Monday to SUNDAY after moving Black Friday to Thursday

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After moving Black Friday to Thursday, now Walmart shifts Cyber Monday to SUNDAY
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Cyber Week will run from 8pm ET Sunday November 29 to December 4
The shift is because more people use the web on their smartphones
Walmart will offer 96 per cent of its store deals to online customers
Mega retailer wants to avoid crushes like that which killed worker in 2008

Published: 05:55 EST, 23 November 2015 | Updated: 08:31 EST, 23 November 2015

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Walmart will be playing around even more with the retail season by beginning its Cyber Monday sales early, with the first deals available at 8pm Eastern Time on Sunday November 29.

The move is part of a ‘Cyber Week’ that will run until December 4 and comes after it announced it would start Black Friday on the Thursday.

The retail giant said the changes are because shoppers now have near-constant web access thanks to their smartphones. It also wants to ease crowd crushes of previous years.

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Early shopping: The world’s largest retailer plans to kick off its Cyber Monday deals a few hours earlier, starting at 8pm eastern time on Sunday, November 29

Online shopping: Wal-Mart’s Cyber Monday deals will come in two waves, with sales at kickoff and then a second round the retailer calls the 'evening edition set to kick in Monday evening

The giant has offered most of the same Black Friday deals online and in stores for the first time ever and has been working with ways to give online shoppers an early jump on sales.

Fernando Madeira, President and CEO of Walmart.com says that Cyber Monday originated at a time when people didn't have access to the high-speed internet at their homes.

'Now that the internet is everywhere with smartphones and broadband connections… it doesn't make any sense to stay awake just to have access to the early, best special deals during Cyber Monday,' he told USA Today.

'That's why we decided to start earlier this year on Sunday. We are ready to go, ready for the customers,' he said.

Walmart has been paying attention to customer searches on the site over the last few weeks to gauge what products will be most popular on Cyber Monday and is planning to offer deals on categories including 4K TVs, 3D printers, Fitbits, drones and toys and products related to Star Wars.

Compared to last year, the company plans to offer three times the number of Star Wars toys, three times as many 4K TVs, 15 times more drones, and 350% more 3D printers and accessories.

Among the early deals available include a 48-inch Samsung 4K TV for $598, an Xbox One with an additional wired controller for $299.96, a 65-inch LG 4K TV for $799 and a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet for $599.

As usual, customers are able to ship orders to a store for free pickup but shipping directly to a customer's home will require orders to be a minimum of $50.

Crowds: Some shoppers queue up the night before to get into the stores (pictured) but Walmart's move to early online shopping it is hoped will ease such crowds

Data from Adobe says that Cyber Monday is likely to remain the biggest online shopping day of the season which is why Wal-Mart has moved to quadruple its assortment of deals for that day.

Black Friday deals in the past have caused long lines and chaos in stores.

Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death in 2008 when shoppers at Green Acres Shopping Center, Valley Street, New York pushed the doors open and streamed inside.

Paramedics who arrived to help him were also trampled and seriously injured.

The two-month November and December shopping period is a crucial time for retailers because it accounts on average for 20 per cent of the retail industry's annual sales.

This year, the company is expecting 75% of its online traffic to come from mobile devices, either through the company's app or through a visit from a mobile web browser.

Walmart expects 210 million visitors to its site from the app alone in November and December, a stark increase from the 18 million shoppers who shopped in the app just two years ago.