Black Friday has become known as the most intense shopping day of the year.  Stories of fights breaking out and shoppers being trampled by crowds have become the hallmark of Black Friday.  This year consider joining millions of Americans who choose to do their shopping from the couch.  Online shopping is sweeping the nation, and “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Thanksgiving – is set to break records.

For those who are not aware, the term Black Friday comes from the heavy traffic observed in Philidelphia the day after Thanksgiving.  Later it was said to be based on the idea that stores operate in the red (debt) all year, and that Black Friday was the first day that they turned a profit or were “in the black.”

Recent years have seen a shift of this heavy traffic from retailers to online outlets.  Black Friday is still the busiest shopping day of the year, but more and more consumers are beginning to avoid the rush by buying online.

This year is no exception to the increase in online traffic, and many – including those at Foxbusiness.com – are reporting that Cyber Monday is set to become the most lucrative digital shopping day in history.  According to Fox Business “Brick-to-Click”, retailers with both brick-and-mortar as well as an online presence will do the best this year.  These kinds of retailers are expecting to make more than 5 times what they would on an average day.

Adobe, the company responsible for these predictions, expects that social media and mobile shopping will be largely responsible for the boost in sales this Cyber Monday.