Which one is correct about spending? [br] [originaltext]Reporter: Experts expec

Reporter: Experts expect tomorrow’s so-called Cyber Monday sales to see an uptick over last year, but will it be enough for busnissses to consider the extended shopping weekend a success? For some insight, we’re joined now by Shelley Banjo of The Wall Street Journal. And, Shelly, let’s just talk about the numbers. The sheer numbers. What kind of spending went on? And when did it happen, given so many stores opened on Thursday?
Interviewee: Sure. So, we’re seeing spending online skyrocket, just up double digits, just the same as last year, really going above years past in both Thanksgiving and on Friday and throughout the weekend. Different numbers have come out vs. how the brick-and-mortar retailers have fared, but pretty much on par with last year.
Reporter: Let’s talk about that brick-and-mortor vs. online debate. For a while, it seemed that brick-and-mortars were a thing of the past: everyone was shopping online. Is that the case for this year?
Interviewee: I think that online people definitely were shopping more, but people still went out to the store. So, I went out a Wal-Mart on Thursday night at—after Thanksgiving, and the lines were out the door so much that I couldn’t even get in. So, obviously, that’s anecdotal evidence, but you’re definitely still seeing people show up and go to the stores.
Reporter: Did the Thursday openings, did that have an impact on the Black Friday sales and Saturday?
Interviewee: I think it just shifts it. So, I think what is starting to happen is that you can’t really look at just the Black Friday numbers, because when you’re having sales all week, especially on, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you can’t just look at the Black Friday numbers in isolation.
Reporter: So, this has become more of a marathon, rather than that—that sprint on Friday.
Interviewee: Right. Right.
Reporter: So interesting. I wanted to get you take on the idea of the sort of packaging of this weekend , that you have Black Friday, and then Small Business Saturday, and then today is Good Shopping Sunday, where some stores are offering a percentage to charities. And then tomorrow is Cyber Monday. Is this actually reflecting people’s behaviours and their wants, or is just a marketing ploy to have retailers just continue to have people focused on shopping?
Interviewee: Right. I think it’s probably a littler bit of both.
Reporter: Traditionally, there’s a lull after this five-day period. What is the forecast?
Interviewee: I think it’s going to be a struggle for retailers to keep shoppers coming in. They have got three—three or four weeks now until Christmas. And there’s generally a huge kind of run-up in Black Friday weekend and then the Saturday before Christmas. And, in between, that’s when the real fight, I think, is going to be fought.