Black Friday boosts online sales

Consumers in the US spent $816 million online on Black Friday, a 26% increase over 2010's Black Friday sales, according to comScore data, CNET reports.

The results buttress numbers released by IBM Coremetrics that showed online sales on Black Friday grew by 24.3% compared with the same period last year.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said in a statement that e-commerce enjoyed a banner day, despite some analysts' predictions that early store openings on Black Friday could hurt online sales.

"With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it's clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels," Fulgoni said.

Thanksgiving is also a big day for online sales, and comScore reported an 18% increase this year compared with a year ago, with $479 million in sales.

comScore said 50 million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, up 35% from a year ago, The Washington Post reveals.

Each of the top five retail sites reported double-digit gains in visitors, in percentage terms, led by top retail site Amazon. Walmart ranked second, followed by Best Buy, Target and Apple.