Wall Street watches ComScore's numbers closely, and the 15% bump in overall online sales was higher than analysts had expected. Investment firm Piper Jaffray had projected a 5% gain.
"Cyber Monday was impressive," wrote Gene Munster, a senior analyst with the firm.
But, he added, "one weekend does not make a quarter. The key question: How much follow-through for the remainder of the year?"
Another question is how many online retailers will survive the cutthroat discounting, which inevitably eats into profits, said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at ComScore. "The challenge for a lot of retailers this year is surviving, maybe eking out some modest profits," he said.
One likely beneficiary is Amazon.com, whose sales correlate closely with ComScore's trends, according to Piper Jaffray.
Another online merchant that saw a sales jump was Newegg Inc., a consumer electronics retailer based in City of Industry. The site said its sales surged 169% on Black Friday compared with the same day last year.
"All online retailers are doing much more aggressive marketing," said Bernard Luthi, vice president of marketing and merchandising at Newegg, which offered a 42-inch LCD television for $499 on Black Friday. "Customers are starting to see online buying as an integral part of their holiday shopping."
Many sites, hoping to keep up the momentum, have extended their Cyber Monday specials into the week, Lipsman said.
"But the reality is that the economy is so tight that strong profits are out of the question for the majority of retailers," he said.
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