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.