Cyber Monday tips and tricks

More than $5 billion was spent online by the end of Black Friday, an 18% percent increase year-over-year. But just how big the shift came in surprised even the experts.

comScore CEO Gian Fulgoni told Internet Retailer that his company expects spending to hit an all-time high on Cyber Monday this year, totaling more than $3.5 billion.

Adobe is so confident of it that it’s predicting online sales today will total $3.36 billion, a 9.4 percent increase from past year.

Forty-nine percent of employees use their smartphone or tablet to shop- that is a 42% increase from a year ago.

Service is essential this holiday season – and not just from store employees.

These patterns may also help explain why social media mentions of Cyber Monday have fallen a staggering 82 percent compared to previous year: People have already gotten their goods, or they’re planning to hold out for the next round of discounts. Mobile accounted for 57% of visits and 40% of sales ($771m). Shoppers looking for discounts spurred online sales on Black Friday to a new high. That is because retailers use it to offer shoppers deals that might not have been available in stores on Black Friday. Analytics company Adobe Insights estimated there would be $3.36 billion in online sales. Adobe’s report shows that Samsung’s 4k TV, Microsoft Xbox, and Apple iPads were among the top-selling products during this year’s Black Friday.

Staten Islanders argued the reason Black Friday shopping was not as busy this year was because online retailers already started sales weeks before and many stores opened early on Thanksgiving Day.

Kohl’s rolled out its Cyber Days sale that started Sunday and runs through November 30, and offers discounts on electronics, clothing, home goods and toys. While part of the drop comes from those high-flying online sales, officials said retail stores have also moved up their discounting to earlier in the week. Both have also been closing stores due to falling revenues.

Some 122 million Americans are expected to take to their computers, smartphones or other devices to scoop up bargains, up by 1 million from a year ago, the National Retail Federation forecasts. Shoppers thronged stores during the Thanksgiving weekend, the four-day period starting Thursday.

You probably aren’t in a shopping frenzy right now, and few other people are, because shopping online is now commonplace.