Record Setting Weekend Into Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday sales will likely set a record, analysts say, after a Thanksgiving weekend when a record 226 million U.S. shoppers spent $52 billion.

The one-day shopping event created by companies to persuade people to shop online the Monday immediately following Black Friday, is projected to generate a record $1.2 billion this year, up from $1 billion in 2010, Internet marketing-research firm ComScore forecast.

More than half the adult U.S. population, or about 123 million people, plan to shop online from their office or home computers, the National Retail Federation trade group said.

Eight in 10 U.S. online retailers plan to offer promotions, the federation’s Shop.org division reported.

Thirty-nine percent of U.S. consumers who shopped during the four-day Thanksgiving weekend said they intended to make purchases online Monday.

The upbeat forecasts followed Black Friday U.S. retail sales that rose 6.6 percent over the same day last year, totaling a record $11.4 billion, retail data and consulting firm ShopperTrak said.