GET LOTS OF GOOD DEALS, NOT TRAMPLED TO DEATH

Rather than getting up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday to go to Wal-Mart and get trampled to death for a good deal on that new Blu-ray Disc player, the smart folks — including the terribly cheesy stock photo actor in the banner pic — waited until today to do their shopping online.

That’s because it’s “Cyber Monday,” which began three years ago when the National Retail Federation got bored and wanted to help people buy things while sitting at home in their underwear.

The Thanksgiving shopping weekend doesn’t appear to have been the disaster some had feared, but consumers’ tempered buying and stores’ unprecedented deep discounts are likely to result in sales that at best met retailers’ low expectations.

Now, the nation’s merchants are struggling to find other tricks to entice financially strapped shoppers for the rest of the holiday shopping season, expected to be the weakest in decades.

“The consumer clearly is showing us that there is a holiday to be had, but the consumer wants bigger deals. And they are not panicking,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, a market research group. “They’re willing to wait it out at almost any price.”

Cohen predicts sales for the weekend, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, were at best even with the same holiday weekend a year ago.

If stores are already offering up to 75 percent off — a move likely to hurt profits — what more can they do? With mounds of inventory that merchants need to clear, Cohen said he expects retailers will be doing more two-for-one deals. [AP]

The best Website to find all the deals in one place is, conveniently, CyberMonday.com. From there you can head over to Best Buy’s “2-Day Cyber Monday Sale” and get $22 off Halo 3 for Xbox 360, or click through to Macy’s for 60 percent off a Kenneth Cole Waverly overcoat (with free shipping).

My suggestion, though, is to buy something nice for your mother instead of the usual Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card. What can I say, I’m here to help.