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Click, click, ka-ching!
Crazy online deals on digital cameras, HDTVs, Xbox game consoles and other merchandise drove millions to the Internet yesterday seeking holiday bargains on par with Black Friday.
It’s called Cyber Monday — the first day back at work after the long Thanksgiving weekend.
And it’s catching on, says the National Retail Federation, which reported 106.9 million bargain-hungry Internet shoppers yesterday, up from 95.5 million last year.
More than half were done buying in the early morning, before work, the retail group said.
Not surprising, most were computer-savvy consumers 18 to 34 years old.
A huge seller all over was the $299 Xbox 360 game console combo with a Kinect package, a module that lets users control games, movies, music and television by speaking and using hand and body motions.
Separately, the Xbox costs $190 and the Kinect goes for $149.
Other top deals included steals on Apple’s iPods and deeply discounted HDTVs, like a Mitsubishi 3D-ready, 60-inch TV selling for $700, a $500 savings, at sears.com.
At Finishline.com, top sellers included two NCAA fleece hoodies for $30, down from $70. Amazon.com was doing a brisk business with the graphics-editing program Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. It usually costs $300 but was selling for $150.
And at Newegg.com, a Polk Audio PSW Series 10-inch subwoofer that’s usually priced at $250 was selling for $80.
“Hundreds of retailers offered special Cyber Monday promotions,” said Joan Broughton, interim executive director of Shop.org, the NRF’s digital division.
Almost 90 percent of the shoppers scoured the ‘Net from home, according to the National Retail Federation. About 20 percent took their chances at work, where Web surfing is typically monitored by their bosses.
Strangely, almost half of the morning shoppers were from the South.
A fraction, mostly 18-to-34-year-olds, used mobile devices like iPhones, BlackBerrys or Droid smartphones to Shop, a relatively new trend.
“For us, this is just the beginning,” said FatWallet.com’s Brad Shelton, “Some of the next few Mondays may be even bigger.”
Cyber Monday came on the heels of Black Friday, considered the Super Bowl of shopping by retail analysts.
They estimated yesterday that deal-crazy consumers dropped around $45 billion over the weekend, with about 212 million shoppers visiting stores and Web sites, up from 195 million last year.
People spent more, too, about $365.34 each, up from last year’s $343.31.