Warm up your mouse-clicking fingers, holiday shoppers -- Cyber Monday has arrived and the rush is on.
Following up on Black Friday, where shoppers flood the malls every year after American Thanksgiving, the United States' biggest online shopping day brings with it even more deals.
While many Canadians retailers have begun offering Black Friday sales, many shoppers from his country still flood into the U.S. to take advantage of better deals. But on Cyber Monday, shoppers here can get all of their stockings stuffed without even putting on their shoes.
"(There are) lots of deals, especially on electronics and clothing," Derek Szeto, the founder of bargain-hunting site RedFlagDeals.com, told CTV's Canada AM on Monday. "The deals are across the board and quite aggressive."
And with more people online than even, the conditions for Cyber Monday get better every year, said Ecoupons.ca's Tayla Shaffler.
"I think it's just becoming easier at this point and more people are becoming comfortable with the internet," she told CTV News on Saturday.
Considering the interests of the online shopping crowd, it's no surprise that Cyber Monday brings particularly good prices on electronics and gadgets, with video games, e-readers and computer gear leading the pack. A Dell laptop for $350 and a Kobo e-reader tablet for $180 are two of the better deals Szeto said he had seen so far.
Shoppers looking to get in on the action should get going as soon as they can, however, as many retailers offer a limited number of their discounted products -- and deals begin at 12:01 a.m, he said.
"Some of the hottest items already went off sale," said Szeto. "And if you're looking for an iPad, you're out of luck," as they were only on sale on Friday.
Over the weekend beginning with Black Friday, U.S. shoppers spent $52.4 million, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. The industry group said the figures represented an all-time record for that weekend, with an estimated 86.3 million shoppers visiting stores on Black Friday alone.
"More consumers than ever turned out for retailers' Black Friday promotions, a promising sign for the economic recovery," said the organization's president, Matthew Shay, in a release.
Noting that nearly one-quarter of all Black Friday shoppers were at the stores by 12:00 a.m. Friday, he said more businesses than ever took that the opportunity to open earlier than usual.
"The appetite for these early openings is only getting stronger among holiday shoppers, and retailers did a great job providing Americans just what they wanted this weekend -- the ability to shop on Black Friday without having to get out of bed before dawn," Shay said.
Following the busy weekend, Amazon released a statement that it had made record one-day sales of its Kindle e-reader on Friday, but did not release specific numbers.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren't the only shopping gimmicks getting attention in recent days. On Saturday, U.S. president Barack Obama took his daughters to a bookstore to promote "Small-business Saturday."
Retail marketing expert David Ian Gray says it's all in the name of drawing shoppers back to the stores.
"We've seen a tough economy the last few years," he told CTV News on Saturday night, "so you see a lot of retailers just trying to do anything to create a buzz."
