Edgar Hernandez purchases a Television during ‘Black Friday’ at a Best Buy store on November 25, 2011 San Diego, California. Thousands of consumers are queuing at various stores across the nation to take advantage of ‘Black Friday’ deals as the holiday shopping season begins in America.
In the American shopping calendar, Black Friday is followed by Cyber Monday — a day of online shopping deals that this year is predicted to see record sales of $1.2 billion, CBS News reported.
Last year, Cyber Monday was the most popular online shopping day of 2010, with retailers such as Amazon, Zappos, Walmart and Best Buy offering online deals and American shoppers spending more than $1 billion.
More from GlobalPost: Black Friday sales hit record
Analysts told CNNMoney that the trend is called "couch commerce" — people wanting to buy from the comfort of their own homes rather than waiting in mile-long queues and crushes of people at stores.
Even Canadians are getting into the day.
Traditionally, Canadians have flocked to stores on Boxing Day (Dec. 26), rather than on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
"Canadian retailers have really gotten into this promotion this year in a scale they just have not traditionally," Derek Szeto, founder of online shopping site Redflagdeals.com told CTV News.
More from GlobalPost: Black Friday sales: Ruthless shopper pepper sprays rivals in LA Walmart
The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?