A 2011 Holiday Shopping Trend Snapshot What retail forecasters expect from online customers during the holiday spending season this year.

"Average" is the word the National Retail Federation uses to forecast the 2011 holiday season, with an expected 2.8 percent increase to $465.6 billion in sales, just slightly more than the 10-year average of 2.6 percent.

While most of the season's purchases still happen in retail stores, digital research firm comScore reported that online sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010, totaled $32.6 billion--a 12 percent jump over 2009. Electronic marketing research firm eMarketer predicts that 2011 will represent another year of double-digit growth in online holiday spending.

Holiday online retailing has become so much more than just Cyber Monday, that hot shopping start to the post-Thanksgiving week. To capture the most of increased online holiday sales, independent retailers need to be aware of some of the trends and shifts in consumer perspective this year, says retail and consumer expert Andrea Woroch with Windsor, Colo., money-saving website company Kinoli.