U. S. traffic on Cyber Monday increased 26 percent compared to 2006, according to Hitwise. This is the third consecutive year there has been an increase on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

 It was like pulling the plug while the stereo was still going – that droopy drop-off of sound and fury – two years ago when the first so-called "Cyber Monday" was conveniently labeled, leaked, and then debunked as hooey on Tuesday. And again this year, it just ain’t so.

Though Wal-Mart dominates the global brick and mortar retail scene, even it had to watch Amazon surpass it in online traffic.

Cyber Monday shoppers were more satisfied with their online experience in 2007 than they were in 2006, according to a new study from ForeSee Results.

Merchants affected by Yahoo’s system outage on Monday have more reasons to be upset, as US consumers parted with $733 million online for the day.

Compared to most retailers, Wal-Mart is really, really big.  So it only makes sense that the company is doing away with Cyber Monday, and is instead focusing on an entire “Cyber Week.”

A whopping 72 million people will be shopping online today, the recently-appointed day for it, and the vast majority will be logging in from work.

Shoppers rang in the traditional start of the holiday gift-buying season with unprecedented traffic on MSN Shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend.

ComScore reports that online retail spending on Cyber Monday shows a 25% increase from 2005. In total, it is estimated that consumers spent nearly $608 million in retail purchases for the year’s most celebrated online shopping holiday.

After all is clicked and bought, Thanksgiving weekend numbers are in with clear retail sector winners. While Best Buy, eBay, Wal-Mart, and Amazon (the four horsemen?) are directing all the Web traffic, it is still unclear which day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, pulls in the most shoppers.

Now that we’re over last year’s holiday marketing trickeryCyber Monday my big toe!it’s time to accept what the marketing gods have lain before us, and make the most of it. Google is leading the charge this year, aggressively pushing its new Google Checkout product with Cyber Monday special promotions.

The Department of Commerce reports that online retail sales in the third quarter grew at four times the rate of total retail sales. In total, online retail sales in the third quarter reached $27.5 billion, which represents a 20.9% increase over the third quarter in 2005. In comparison, total offline retail sales for the third quarter 2006 are only up 5.1% from a year ago.

Cyber Monday is rapidly approaching and the online retailers are preparing themselves for what they hope will be lucrative holiday season.