Spending on Cyber Monday up, but will it last?

According to a survey conducted by marketing firm Bigresearch, consumers spent an average of $373 in stores and online over the Thanksgiving weekend. That’s up seven percent from last year, and an estimated $41 billion in total spending.

Comscore, a leader in measuring the digital world, tracked online spending from November first to December fifth. They found that close to $15 billion has been spent shopping online, which is just about the same as last year.

But from Cyber Monday, December first to the fifth, sales totaled more than $3.7 billion dollars, which is a nine percent increase from last year.

So if people are desperately trying to hold onto their money, why did 25 million more shoppers visit stores and websites this year than last year?

Bigresearch senior analyst Pam Goodfellow said deep discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday swayed more shoppers to spend. But now that the deal days are over, she predicts the brisk shopping pace will slow down.