Electronics Big Sellers Online On Black Friday

Electronic products were the big seller online this Black Friday -- the day retailers traditionally look at as a bellwether for how they'll fare during the holiday shopping season.

Black Friday -- the day after Thanksgiving -- is widely known as the day consumers crowd shopping malls, searching for and spending on holiday gifts. Greater online traffic is expected three days later on "Cyber Monday" -- today -- when consumers use their speedy office Internet connections to make purchases. Still, the latest figures suggest consumers avoided the malls and let their fingers do the walking -- over their keyboards. PayPal, an online payment service owned by eBay, said it experienced 34 percent more transactions than in 2007 and showed a 26 percent increase in online payment volume on Black Friday.

"Results from Black Friday show that shoppers continue to turn to the Web for their holiday shopping needs, especially for consumer electronics," said Jim Griffith, eBay Marketplace Expert, in a statement. The most searched-for product on eBay was Nintendo's Wii console; 3,171 of them were sold on the site.

Due to the overall economic malaise, retailers are predicting a weaker end-of-year than last year: Overall, Web sales during the U.S. holiday season are expected to be flat at roughly $29 billion this year, according to tracking firm comScore. Sites such as blackfriday.gottadeal.com attempted to help shoppers navigate through various store's deals by aggregating promotions through a portal.

Amazon.com started offering Black Friday deals three days early -- and plans on extending them through today. According to Reuters, Amazon.com said Apple Inc.'s iPod touch was the top-selling electronics item on Friday morning, followed by a Canon Inc. PowerShot camera. Nintendo's Wii Fit and the Wii console were the top-selling items in the video game category, while the LeapFrog Tag Reading System was the best-selling toy.