Did you survive Black Friday?

Are you ready for Cyber Monday?

Do you care?

And what does the Internet have to do with all this?

You have questions, I have answers.

Today is Cyber Monday, the "traditional" start of the online Christmas holiday shopping season.

Actually, it's not much of a tradition yet: The term and concept were invented in 2005 by Shop.org (www.shop.org), the digital arm of the National Retail Federation (www.nrf.com).

The theory is that the people who went real world shopping on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and over the weekend, but weren't able to get what they wanted, will then go online Monday to make their purchases in the digital world.

Time and a few years of statistics have effectively taken the air out of that theory (just like the now debunked belief that Black Friday is the busiest real world shopping day during the holiday season).

While the National Retail Federation suggests 84 percent of online retailers will be running special promotions today, this won't be the biggest day online for shopping. December 5 through 15 are actually the busiest days for digital holiday purchases, with Dec. 10 (give or take a day) being the busiest of them all.

There may indeed be a spike in online traffic and sales today, but a lot of people that day are likely to be doing product research and price comparing before committing to an online purchase a week or so later. A comScore study of 2007's Cyber Monday found just 6 percent of those who went online that day actually made an online purchase that same day.

And while there are no hard numbers yet to support it, there's anecdotal evidence that suggests a significant number of people go online to research a product and price, and then make the actual purchase at a local "brick and mortar" shop.

So, while some industry watchers are busy dividing the retail world into real and virtual segments, I think most consumers are looking at it as two sides of the same coin: Consumers use online to help them make offline purchasing decisions. And what can't be found offline is usually available somewhere online.

Still, this may be a tough year for holiday shopping, online or offline, given the economy.

Research released last week by the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association found 55 percent of those surveyed planned to reduce their overall holiday spending this year over 2007. The main reason: Worries about increasing their household debt (www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/Holiday_Spending_11-24-08.pdf).

And a survey by Forrester Research suggests 33 percent of online buyers plan to spend less this November and December in the digital world than in 2007.

Amazon (www.amazon.com) and eBay (www.ebay.com) have both said they expect a weak holiday season.

Since the start of November, consumers have spent a little more than $8 billion online. That's down 4 percent from 2007 for the same time period, but still a significant number (www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2595).

What are the hot items online? According to comScore, during the third quarter of this year, video games and related equipment were still the top purchases. But interestingly, also at the top is furniture and appliances, and sports and fitness products.

What's not hot? During the third quarter of 2008, these categories were down in online sales compared to a year ago: Apparel and accessories, toys and hobbies, jewelry and watches, and music, movies and videos (www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2560).

Online holiday spending is expected to hit $29 billion this season, about the same as last year.

If you're looking to shop online or want to use the Internet to help you make purchasing decisions in the real world, here are some sites that may be useful to your efforts:

SortPrice

www.sortprice.com

Compare prices for products.

CyberMonday.com

www.cybermonday.com

Coupons, special offers and other holidays discounts from more than 500 retailers for deals including and beyond today.

ShoppingSpot

www.shoppingspot.com

Price comparisons, top product lists, more.

Cyber Monday Primer

www.pcworld.com/article/154458/a_cyber_monday_tech_shopping_primer.html

Tips, tricks and links for making the most of online shopping today and beyond.

Online Shopping Tips

http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/info/consumer-tips.html

Consumer Reports

www.consumerreports.org

Snopes: Black Friday Myths

www.snopes.com/holidays/thanksgiving/shopping.asp

(Keith Darnay is the webmaster and designer for bismarcktribune.com. His Web site, featuring this column going back to 1995, is at www.darnay.com.iec.)