‘Cyber Monday’ Sales Rise

A new report says a record number of shoppers made purchases online on the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, pushing sales up 33 percent.

The report from IBM Benchmark says the average order rose 2.6 percent to $193.24 on the day known as "Cyber Monday," when retailers amp up online promotions. The data says about 80 percent of retailers offered online deals.

It says traffic peaked at 2:05 p.m. Eastern. About 6.6 percent used a mobile device to shop, up from 2.3 percent in 2010. The Cyber Monday numbers point to Americans' growing comfort with using their personal computers, tablets and smartphones to shop.

A clearer picture of how holiday sales are shaping up will come on Thursday, when major retailers report November sales.  

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