Those who want to get in on all the Black Friday sales without leaving their couch have one simple solution: online shopping. Because, let’s face it, we’re not all cut out for standing in line on Thanksgiving just to get a discounted iPhone 6. So, in 2005, an official day was added to the post-Thanksgiving consumer circus in order to capitalize on online shopping deals: Cyber Monday.

But nine years after the National Retail Federation and Shop.org coined the term, it seems that Cyber Monday has become nothing but a fallacy. We still talk about it — quoting the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales on the year’s most sought after gadgets we plan on purchasing — but it’s time we recognize something about the holiday shopping frenzy: Cyber Monday is all but irrelevant.

When you think of online retailers that must have the most to-die-for deals on Cyber Monday, Amazon comes to mind. But consider this: This year, the online marketplace’s deals start Saturday, November 29, and last for eight straight days. That’s over a week of sales on TVs, headphones and other gadgets. The individual importance of Cyber Monday is pretty much lost – the only extra incentive on that day is exclusive “lightning deals,” only accessible on the Amazon mobile app.

According to the National Retail Federation, Cyber Monday came about after online shopping spiked the Monday after Thanksgiving, a rise that could be attributed to people back at work and on their computers, with holiday shopping on their minds. But in the same way that Black Friday has started to take over Thanksgiving – and the rest of the week – online deals have spread across the entire month of November, and into December.

Because while in-store Black Friday sales have to consider their operating hours and the capability of their workers, online sales are only bound by what retailers can keep in stock. Look at Wal-Mart, for example. Employees protested the working conditions surrounding Black Friday; this year, the retail giant announced it would be spreading their holiday deals across five days. On the Web, you can log on at 3 a.m. and get the same shopping experience at 3 p.m. – and you don’t have to deal with massive crowds.

Another reason Cyber Monday is verging on irrelevancy? Retailers have plenty of Black Friday deals that are available for shopping online, meaning that any new sales specifically designated for Monday blend into the hoards of longer-running sales that began on Black Friday or earlier. It makes sense – when retailers don’t have to worry about maintaining a work force, and for longer hours, why wait to promote their bargains for one day only? The longer the sales exist, the more money people end up spending online.

So while there are a slew of Cyber Monday deals happening specifically on Monday – ones to look out for include Rue La La and Groupon – there are online deals to be had now, on Monday, and beyond. The irrelevancy of Cyber Monday likely goes hand-in-hand with the over-saturation of holiday sales in general, but it’s still important to remember that if you plan on shopping the year’s best bargains, you’ve got to start early.

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