Black Friday sales surpass billion dollar mark: Report

Black Friday retail sales online topped $1 billion for the first time this year as more consumers got a head start on Cyber Monday to do their holiday shopping, comScore, Inc. said Sunday.

Online sales jumped at least 22% on Black Friday, from sales of $816 million on the same day last year, according to comScore data.

E-commerce accounts for less than 10% of consumer spending in the United States. However, it is growing much faster than bricks-and-mortar retail as low prices, convenience, faster shipping and wide selection lure shoppers.

ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic in physical retail stores, estimated Black Friday sales of $11.2 billion, down 1.8% from last year.

"Online has been around 9% of total holiday sales, but it could breach 10% for the first time this season," said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell more on websites including Amazon.com and eBay.com.

ComScore expects online retail spending to rise 17% to $43.4 billion through the whole holiday season. That is above the 15% increase last season and before the retail industry's expectation for a 4.1% increase in overall spending this holiday.

It's not clear yet whether strong Black Friday sales online will weaken growth on Cyber Monday.