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Just two days after Black Friday, the most advertised shopping day of the year, retailers are again courting shoppers today with promises of big discounts — online. It’s Cyber Monday dubbed for the jump in website sales that became a tradition in recent years. Last year Cyber Monday shoppers spent a record $1 billion. This past weekend Black Friday sales broke a record totaling $52.4 billion. According to the National Retail Federation, 226 million shoppers made purchases on Friday, up from 212 million bargain hunters last year. A whopping 37% of total spending was done online. Nearly 40% of shoppers spent their holiday money on electronics and over 48% of shoppers went to department stores. Some observers call the increase in spending this year compared to last a sign of economic recovery. An estimated 25% of shoppers lined up at stores on Thanksgiving before doors opened on midnight Friday and shopping madness included the chaos that has become a disturbing standard. USA Today reports that around the country at least two dozen people were reported injured on Black Friday. Walmart continues to be a target for mayhem. In Los Angeles a Walmart shopper sprayed dozens of shoppers including children with pepper spray in an effort to snag an Xbox video game player, a fight broke out among shoppers waiting in line at a Connecticut branch and in Walnut, California a Walmart shopper was arrested for stealing. However, no deaths were reported this year, an improvement over previous years. A Walmart employee was trampled to death by stampeding shoppers in 2008.

GUEST: Nicole Woo, Director of Domestic Policy for the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Visit www.cepr.net for more information.

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