Cyber Monday refers to the first Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States. This is supposedly the biggest online shopping day of the year. But is it?

A retailer I work with had their best day of the year so far on the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2005. But does that make it Cyber Monday?

It turns out that this particular retailer historically has done as much as 2-3 times more revenue per day over the 2-3 weeks following Cyber Monday.

BusinessWeek this down in an online column published on November 29, 2005 called Cyber Monday, Marketing Myth:

Contrary to what the recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn't nearly the biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher comScore Networks. It's not even the first big day of the season.

For most online retailers, the bigger spending day of the season to date was way back on Nov. 22, three days before Black Friday. What's more, most e-tailers say the season's top spending day comes much later, between around Dec. 5 and Dec. 15.

Why the December 5th to the 15th?

1. We procrastinate,
2. But we realize online orders have to be shipped.

What can you do to take some stress out of your online holiday shopping?

1. Make sure you're ordering products that are in stock.
2. Choose expedited shipping
3. Work with retailers who provide shipping tracking numbers, so you can pick up on any shipping snafus.
4. Work with credible retailers. Merchant ratings on sites like Shopping.com could help you determine who's credible in addition to the major online retailers.
5. Don't procrastinate.

Ed Kohler is the executive producer of Technology Evangelist, a blog covering technology, software, hardware, and web marketing.