Winter Holidays

New York City -- E-commerce spending jumped 26% on Black Friday, according to comscore.

Black Friday web sales totaled $816 million, up from $648 million last year, comScore reported.

“With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it's clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman, comScore.

New York City -- Online sales on Cyber Monday were up mid-afternoon by 15% from a year ago, according to IBM Benchmark.

In other mid-afternoon results, IBM reported:

• The number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer's site is 12.4%.
• The number of consumers using their mobile device to make a purchase is at 7.37%; and
• iPhone continues to lead all mobile device traffic at 4.88%, followed by Android at 3.9% and iPad at 3.26%.

All those flat screens televisions sticking out of shopping carts in the aisles of Target stores early Friday morning were no optical illusion.

RESTON, Va. — Retailers who promoted their online presence as a way to avoid the crowds this past weekend were rewarded for their efforts with record sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

New York City -- Retail sales broke records during the Thanksgiving weekend, climbing 16%, according to a survey by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation.  Shoppers spent $52.4 billion, up from $45 billion last year.

A record 225 million shoppers visited stores and malls over the Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million last year. Shoppers on average spent $398.62, up from $365.34 last year, the NRF said.

Holiday shoppers were hunting for big screen televisions, LeapFrogs, Angry Birds and anything with an “i” in its name this weekend, according to an analysis of online search behavior conducted by the price comparison website PriceGrabber.com.

According to the firm’s Holiday Dashboard Report, as of Friday morning the top searched Black Friday products included items in some of the most frequently promoted categories such as electronics and toys. The top searched products, according to PriceGrabber, included the following:

Target was among those retailers whose decision to open at midnight on Black Friday paid off handsomely this past weekend as record numbers of shoppers visited stores and set new sales records.

The combination of earlier than ever opening hours, favorable weather and deal conscious consumers receptive to heightened promotional activity produced record sales over Thanksgiving weekend.

The National Retail Federation said an estimated 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Thanksgiving weekend, compared with 212 million last year, and spent an average of $398 per person, compared with $365 last year. Those findings are based on an NRF survey of 3,826 shoppers conducted over the weekend by BIGresearch.