It's the day that millions of us camp out for every year. It has the gripping power to turn kindly soccer moms and dear ol' dads into ruthless deal-hungry super sale soldiers. However, this day has been seeing some rising competition in recent years.

Christmas Shopping Season Gets Underway On "Black Friday"
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This year, in a preemptive poll, Black Friday was slated to attract 4 out of 5 Americans to the thousands of participating stores where they were expected to spend 20% more money than last year. While the numbers have yet to be crunched for this year's dawn of the deals, another shopping opportunity has been on the rise in popularity in recent years: Cyber Monday.

Cyber Monday is a day of sales modeled after Black Friday. It has occurred the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend for several years. What sets it apart from Black Friday, however, is the fact that shoppers don't even have to leave their homes to get deals on items. On Cyber Monday, shopping websites such as Amazon.com and eBay offer special deals on certain products. The idea of not having to brave the cold and the possibly hostile crowds of shoppers has attracted many folks to shopping on Cyber Monday. According to and article by NerdWallet's Kristen VerHaar, the biggest benefit of this newer shopping event comes from the sheer convenience of it. "Rather than hopping back in the car or walking across the mall" says VerHaar, "you can get to the next store on the Internet in mere seconds. Cyber Monday sales also tend to be store-wide rather than product-specific, which can be a good thing if you're not looking for a particular make or model of a product."

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Sean Gallup, Getty Images
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However, Cyber Monday is still not perfect compared to Black Friday. It has it's faults. Paying additional shipping costs and having to wait five to ten business days for your items can prove an inconvenience. VerHaar also mentions the possibility of unmet expectations. "Things tend to look different online, and something might be slightly off in color or a different texture than you anticipated."

So, whether or not you prefer to brave the superstore jungles or attempt to command the powers of online savings in your pajamas, Cyber Monday has very much become a retail event almost equal in popularity with Black Friday. Whether it's with a click of the mouse or a swipe of the credit card, there are now two great ways to save on making your Christmas bright.

Click on this link to read more about Black Friday versus Cyber Monday.

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