CyberSource Misses The Cart In Online-Shopping Prediction

Oops. That sums up CyberSource Corp.'s reason for picking the wrong day as the busiest online-shopping day of the holiday season.

The Mountain View, Calif., processor of electronic payments for web merchants said on Friday that Monday, Dec. 13, was the heaviest shopping day, not Tuesday, Dec. 14.

"It was an educated guess," company spokesman Bruce Frymire said. "We didn't think panic buying would set in until later in the week, so we went with Tuesday. We were mistaken."

As to the actual number of transactions, CyberSource can't give it until the company releases its financial statement in January. The number of transactions the company processes is a metric for judging its performance. In the first nine months of this year, CyberSource processed 300 million transactions.

Nevertheless, the company expects Dec. 13 to hold on to its crown. Online buying usually tapers off as the holiday approaches; because it becomes more difficult and more expensive to have gifts arrive on time, Frymire said. Merchants typically drop their buy-early incentives, such as free shipping.

One of CyberSource's predictions, however, came true. The busiest online shopping day of the year is getting earlier. In 2002, it was Dec. 17, and in 2003, it was Dec. 15, according to the company.