Get ready Australian shoppers because another mega sale is fast approaching. Cyber Monday follows the iconic Black Friday shopping event that already started in the United States. Yearly, retailers conduct massive sales the day after Thanksgiving in order to begin the Christmas holiday shopping season.

During this week's 24-hour Click Frenzy sale, thousands of Australian consumers purchased discounted products despite encountering web site technical problems. Now, online shoppers can get hold of bigger price discounts on the upcoming Cyber Monday sale. Experts also claimed that online item transactions have lower prices overseas.

Click Frenzy web site already had greater than 20 million page views. Though there were good quality deals found, online prices do not weaken the overseas retailers. Mozo, the financial comparison web site, evaluated the lowest prices on well-liked Christmas presents in Australian bricks and mortar, Australian online and international retailers. Some of the items up for grabs have a price 46% lower at international online stores including the shipping expenses.

For example, the "Nigella Bites" recipe book costs $55.95 in Dymocks, $38.80 at doubleday.com.au and $33 from Amazon USA. The 100ml perfume Marc Jacobs Daisy costs $120 at Myer, $116 at fragrancesandcosmetics.com.au and only $65 at Hong Kong-based online retailer cosmeparadise.com. The computations for the international prices were made using the average currency conversion fee of 2.5% of the purchase price including the exchange rate from Mastercard.

Kirsty Lamont, Mozo director, stated that local retailers basically cannot contend with the bigger bargains offered. "The bricks and clicks gap is getting closer for local retailers but when it comes to online, by far the best bargains are still found overseas," Lamont said.

Ingrid Just, spokeswoman for the consumer group Choice, also declared that the excitement around Click Frenzy has already increased awareness of the US sale among online shoppers. "I don't think your regular person in the street would necessarily be aware of Cyber Monday. I'm sure the coverage would have flagged it to people who are shoppers, particularly those who are happy to shop online," Just shared.

Just further suggested that shoppers should do their homework first before purchasing discounted items. "Look at the terms and conditions around these forwarding services, and especially at this time of year, and check the length of time it will take getting from a to b."

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