Well, at least if shoppers stay at home, they’re less likely to attack each other. Web-savvy retailers saw a huge increase in online sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. According to a new IBM report, during the holiday itself, online sales rose 17.4 percent. On Black Friday, many customers avoided stampeding lines and shopped online—technology company ShopperTrak finds that consumers spent $11.2 billion at stores across the U.S. That figure is down 1.8 percent from last year's total.
