Holiday Sales Invade Thanksgiving With Gray Thursday

Courtesy of iheartthemart.com

   This year's Black Friday shopping earned $1 billion in online sales. Up 26 percent from last year, consumers are gradually using the Internet for holiday shopping, said comScore Inc.

Though the popularity of Cyber Monday has provided consumers with many online deals, technology is taking over the retail industry by catering to consumers fed up with waiting in long lines.

According to the data collected by comScore, of the most visited websites on Friday, Amazon ranked first. Following was the Walmart, BestBuy and Target corporations' websites.

Despite great increase in the Internet sales, competition for in-store revenue continue. Stores pushed doorbuster sales back as early as 7 o'clock Thanksgiving morning, dubbing the day Gray Thursday. "I think earlier sales give people a higher chance in getting what they want when they come into the store," said Walmart Co-Manager Johnny Fair.

Some traditional shoppers view Gray Thursday as a contradiction to the meaning of Thanksgiving. "You're supposed to spend the day being thankful for what you have and people are in there fighting over forty cent towels," said shopper Kyle Turner.

According to the National Retail Federation, 35 million Americans visited retail stores or websites Thursday, compared to the 29 million from last year.

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