Black Friday Spending Way Up, Cyber Monday Next!

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Nov. 25, 2012 - Your trip to see the relatives for Thanksgiving was stressful enough. Then you subjected yourself to the insanity of "Black Friday" shopping frenzy, which continued for days as "Black Friday Weekend."

Tucked into that was "Small Business Saturday." It was a crazy weekend, but a happy one for many merchants. Record high sales are being reported, a reflection of stronger consumer confidence perhaps. "According to IBM US shoppers once again took advantage of early promotions this holiday season," reports Socialnomics, "driving a 17.4 percent increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day. This increase set the stage for 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday.The biggest surge came from mobile consumers, with sales reaching 16.3 percent, led by the iPad. This data is the result of cloud-based analytics findings from IBM."

If the crazed storming of the gates at Victoria's Secret (see video below) is any indication of consumer sentiment, a lot of retailers will be in the black by mid-week. Of course, there were the fights and embarrassingly bad conduct by some shoppers (video below), but most deal seekers did behave.

If you were out of town, your trip back home was tiring. You rehashed arguments with your in-laws in your aching head the whole way back. Don't relax yet, because the insanity goes on...

Here comes "Cyber Monday," the continuance of the holiday consumer mania that has the nation firmly in its grip.

Cyber Monday is when merchants that sell online via the Internet hope consumers will shop from the comfort of their homes or offices.

Cyber Monday 2012 promises to be huge, too. As of Sunday afternoon, online sales already smashed records, boding well for tomorrow's cyber shopping.

Relax!

"According to comScore, which tracks online spending, online sales rose 26 percent to $1.04 billion on Black Friday compared with a year ago." reports Equities.com. "On Thanksgiving, online sales rose 32 percent from last year to $633 million. And online sales on Black Friday were up 26 percent from the same day last year to $1.042 billion. It was the first time online sales on Black Friday surpassed $1 billion."

Have fun shopping online tomorrow, but be careful. If you stayed away from the malls because you feared a crazed mob scene, don't forget that shopping on the Internet has its risks too. You'll find some  good advice for safe cyber shopping DecodedScience.com.

Your next big worry: What to do with the Thanksgiving Day leftovers. Don't stress over it. Here are a few tasty suggestions.