Reports over the weekend showed sales during this year's Black Friday are up six percent from last year, indicating a strong start to the holiday season. Black Friday, is traditionally one of the biggest holiday shopping days of the year. It's called "Black Friday" because it's the day retailers are said to finally start making a profit, or go into the black, for the year.

Cyber Monday targets online shoppers: But for shoppers unwilling to crawl out of bed at uncivilized hours to fight the maddening mall crowds, there is an alternative -- Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Monday this week marks the ceremonial kickoff to the ONLINE holiday shopping season. And analysts project it likely will be even bigger this year as retailers target shoppers with promotions and special savings.

Who shops online: More than half of consumers with Internet access at work plan to do some holiday shopping online from the office, up from 44.7 percent last year. Young adults with online access at work are the most likely to shop, with almost three-fourths of 18- to 24-year-olds and two-thirds of 25- to 34-year-olds planning to browse or buy online from the office this holiday season.

Cyber Monday myth or reality? Neither Black Friday nor Cyber Monday ranked among the top five online shopping days of 2005, according to several research firms. Retailers say peak online shopping is actually coming later and later in the season as express shipping becomes faster, more popular and cheaper, allowing procrastinators to wait in the knowledge that gifts can still be delivered in time. Last year, Cyber Monday was the second-largest online shopping day of the holiday season according to some analysts with Dec. 12 (one of the last days online retailers offered free standard shipping ) the largest. Analysts expect the biggest days of electronic commerce to occur in the week or two before Christmas, when online shoppers stop comparing and start buying.