Retailers Expect Cyber Holiday Shopping

It's cyber Monday, and everyone's back at work from the Thanksgiving holiday. Retailers expect many to be clicking their way through their holiday shopping list today. It's a carry over from black Friday's fevered spending spree. "We found that to be a dramatic increase and it's a delightful way to start the holiday season," said aaron Martin of shoppertrak.com. Shoppertrak reports Americans spent nearly $9 billion during the traditional kick-off to the holiday shopping season. "It's been awesome. We've had great numbers coming in. A lot of traffic, a lot of energy in the store," said Joy Hopper from the popular gadget store Brookstone Retail's strong performance was a direct result of aggressive discounting and promotions -- encouraging everyone to get out early and spend big. Muscling their way through the bargains, shoppers pushed Black Friday sales up a strong 6 percent from last year. "A couple of years ago, it was the $20 DVD players, last year the $300 laptop," said Scott Krugman of the National Retail Federation. "This year, you can get a 42 inch HDTV for under $1000." "Retailers, like Target and Wal-Mart, they know this is what people want . This is how to get them into the store so they're going to give them a great discount and hopefully buy other things while they're there," said Allison Fass of Forbes magazine. Christmas falls on a Monday this year, and store executives are excited they've got an extra weekend for all those procrastinators. On top of that, gas prices are lower, more people have jobs, the stock market is stronger and shoppers want to spend, spend, spend. "This is a pretty good bellwether of where economy stands," said Martin.