Cyber Monday to remain biggest online spending day

Seattle

CYBER Monday is poised to retain its status as the biggest online spending day of the year despite a surge of shoppers hitting computers and smartphones instead of stores on Black Friday to chase deals earlier in the season.

Online spending on Monday is expected to increase 10 per cent to a record US$3.39 billion, according to Adobe Systems Inc. Black Friday is catching up, with US$3.34 billion spent online, a gain of 21.6 per cent from a year ago.

The narrowing gap highlights the capitulation of brick-and-mortar stores to the spending habits of their shoppers, who prefer the convenience of scouting deals from home to the challenge of battling fellow consumers at a store for limited bargains. Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and department stores have joined Amazon.com Inc to offer online deals earlier in the holiday shopping season rather than saving their best prices for those who go to the s…