Perhaps the Cannibalization of Department Stores’ Sales by Online Retailers Is

Still, some shoppers find delight in visiting brick-and-mortar stores.

The importance of the Thanksgiving weekend has also waned somewhat in recent years as retailers promote earlier in the season and demand shifts online.

The amount is expected to fall short of Black Friday’s predicted spending of £1.07 billion – the first time that online retail sales in the United Kingdom were thought to have surpassed £1 billion in one day.

NEW YORK_ Black Friday sales soared on portable devices.

Like Tracy, many US shoppers like to make purchases on their desktops and smartphones nowadays, they insist on getting big discounts whenever they shop, and they don’t feel pressured to shop on particular days.

Shopper Eruain Nieto (cq) sits on the edge of a plant pot while waiting for his daughter, who shops at the H&M store at NorthPark Center in Dallas on Black Friday.

The figures for Black Friday showed consumers would rather shop online that stand in line, reported the Associated Press. Adobe said its projections are within 2 percent of the actual spending on those Websites. “They’re doing research on their phones, buying on their phones”.

A battle is raging between big brick-and-mortar stores and their online counterparts this season, pitting the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. against Amazon.com Inc.as they offer cyber-deals earlier and for longer to attract cautious consumers.

Investing in better apps and mobile shopping sites paid off for retailers this year, IBM said Saturday, and digital sales were up 21.5% from last year. But in a sign that consumers were mostly grabbing deals, doorbuster deals accounted for 40% of all online sales.

The importance of Black Friday has always been more myth than fact. The report tracks spending by combining sales activity in MasterCard’s payments network with estimates of cash and other payment forms. Early indications in the past couple of months have department stores’ retail sales trickling back up.

“The numbers are down but it’s still a better sales trend during the two days than we have seen for physical retail through the year and especially after a very hard summer and October”.

Chris Christopher, director of consumer economics at consulting firm IHS, predicts that holiday season e-commerce sales will jump 11.7 percent this year to about $95 billion, up from last year’s 10.9 percent gain. Overall, we believe Holiday apparel sales will increase about 2%. Free search drove 21.1% of sales and 16.3% via paid search.

The NRF’s forecast is based on several economic indicators including consumer credit, disposable personal income and prior results for monthly retail sales releases.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, ShopperTrak will release a full weekend recap, which will include additional details regarding sales and shopper visits.