Cyber Monday May Be About to Lose Its Title

Cyber Monday may be in danger of losing its online sales title. The Monday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest online shopping day of the year, but stores are releasing Internet deals earlier, stretching them through the week, as well as making them available in stores, the AP reports. Shoppers looking for discounts spurred online sales on Black Friday to a new high. More and more people are deciding to skip the mayhem in stores and buy online. Consumers spent $3.34 billion shopping online on Friday, a 21.6% increase from the same day last year, according to Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online retail transactions.

Online sales have also been stretching out more and more. Cartwheel, Target's digital app, started offering holiday deals, including 50% off one toy per day, on Nov. 1. Amazon started offering 35 days of Black Friday deals on Nov. 16. And Walmart kicked off its Cyber Monday deals at 12:01am EST Friday. "Thanksgiving has become the new Cyber Monday," says Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Technology Association. "It's really this weeklong flow of deals." Out of the estimated 135.9 million US adults who shopped this past week, 35% did so by phone and tablet, an increase from a 28% share last year, according to the group. (At least three people were killed in Black Friday shootings.)