Online Retailers Get Jump On Cyber Monday With Big Black Friday Sales Gains

So much for holiday traditions. Shoppers aren't waiting for Cyber Monday to start their online shopping, judging by statistics issued by a number of market research sources over the weekend.

Holiday season retail e-commerce spending in the U.S. on Friday, Nov. 27, reached $595 million " up 11 percent from $534 million the same day last year, according to Comscore, which tracks online activity. Altogether online holiday shopping for Nov. 1 through 27 was $10.6 billion, up 3 percent from $10.3 billion during the same period in 2008.

"Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world," said Comscore chairman Gian Fulgoni, in a statement.

"While this acceleration in spending suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter," Fulgoni said. "Cyber Monday " the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season " and the subsequent weeks will be the real test for how online retailers fare this season."

Experian Hitwise, another company that tracks the Internet and E-commerce, said Amazon.com was the top retail Web site visited on Black Friday, receiving 13.55 percent of all U.S. visits among the top 500 retail Web sites. Comscore said the number of unique visitors at Amazon.com was up 28 percent from Black Friday 2008.

Wal-Mart was the second most visited site on Black Friday with 11.18 percent of all visits, according to Experian Hitwise. Comscore said visits to the retail giant's Website were up 22 percent over Black Friday 2008.

Other hot shopping sites on Black Friday included Apple.com (up 39 percent from last year, according to Comscore), Target.com, BestBuy.com, Staples.com and Dell.com.

Statistics for the results of Cyber Monday are expected as soon as Tuesday afternoon.