Sales quadruple for Brew City Brand Apparel on Cyber Monday

MILWAUKEE -- On Cyber Monday, it's all about shopping online! Retailers work to lure customers with exceptional bargains via the web. Milwaukee retailer Brew City Brand Apparel was busy on Monday -- working hard to meet the demands of Cyber Monday shoppers.

John Axt of Brew City Brand Apparel sifted through online orders on Monday, working to get them filled and shipped out. The amount of orders took the small company by surprise. Prices dropped Sunday night, but sales didn't really pick up until Monday.

The Black Friday sales garnered an estimated $60 billion thanks to 247 million shoppers. According to the National Retail Federation, more than half of consumers were planning to shop Cyber Monday.

Co-Owner Frank Keppler said sales for Brew City are much more than he expected. He said the biggest seller by far was the beer pouch sweatshirt.

With 50% off bargains, Brew City sales quadrupled from 2011's Cyber Monday.  

Brew City officials say social website Pinterest helped drive customers to Brew City's website. 

"Those people are putting it on threads to each other, and they're coming right over to our site. It's one of our larger hits coming from Pinterest, and we didn't really do anything to add to those sales. It was Pinterest users pinning it for each other," Keppler said.

Keppler said Pinterest brought in customers from all over the world, including Australia, Great Britain and Canada.

"I just had someone in Canada call. She's like, 'I just saw this on Pinterest. This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I want to order three for my sons and my husband,'" Keppler said.

Keppler said Keep.com also helped generate sales, and Brew City's employees worked on overdrive trying to keep up with demand.

The online deals will expire at midnight on Monday night, but the deals will continue on Tuesday at Brew City's stores at The Shops of Grand Avenue and Milwaukee Public Market in downtown Milwaukee.