‘Cyber Monday’ sales set records

“Cyber Monday,” the internet’s answer to Black Friday, appeared to set sales records. Last year’s “Cyber Monday” saw $1 billion spent online. IBM Benchmark analysts say online sales were up 15% from last year, making it on pace to surpass the previous record. The perception of “Cyber Monday” as more than a made-up holiday has been aided by a strong retailer push.

Companies promoted deals everywhere online, including the microblogging site Twitter, where the hashtag #CyberMonday was a “sponsored tweet.” Half of online shopping on “Cyber Monday” happens on work computers, according to analytics firm comScore. Mobile devices also saw a strong increase over previous years. 12% of surfing on retailer sites was done from mobile devices, with 7% of total purchases made from mobile.