Cyber Monday: E-commerce sales already setting records
(CBS News) After a weekend full of Thanksgiving sales that saw U.S. shoppers hitting the stores to spend $50 billion, Cyber Monday has become the biggest online shopping day of the year. This year, some estimates indicate that internet sales will be up more than 20 percent over 2011 sales.
E-commerce sales got an early start last week on Black Friday, with 57 million Americans going online to shop, sending e-commerce sales over the $1 billion mark for the first time.
Looking ahead to holiday shopping online, Amazon.com vice president Craig Berman told CBS News' Seth Doane that the company hired 50,000 seasonal workers to help fulfill orders.
"We feel good about the season," Berman said. "We feel this is the going to be our best holiday season to date ... we really do ... We have grown every year and we see no reason to believe that we won't have a great holiday season."
Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting back against the e-commerce onslaught, investing in their own websites and offering to match online deals in their stores.