(December 01, 2008)—Now that Black Friday has come and gone and consumers are heading back to work after the long holiday weekend, retailers are gearing up for what is known as Cyber Monday.

Monday marks the online retail industry's ceremonial kickoff for the holiday shopping season and Cyber Monday is to online retailers what Black Friday is to traditional brick and mortar stores.

The National Retail Federation says more than 80 percent of retailers are expected to have special promotions online Monday, up from last year.

But after what seems like a successful Black Friday, experts say online sales could be fairly flat this year.

One local economist says businesses will need to keep offering big discounts for shoppers online and in the stores to keep sales up through the holiday season.

“People probably got a lot of their shopping done this past weekend,” says Kent Gilbreath, a Professor of Economics at Baylor University.

Gilbreath says stores here in Texas are probably seeing a bigger turnout than other parts of the U.S.

Economic woes have not affected Texas nearly as severely as they have the rest of the nation.