Online retailers Monday take their turn in offering doorbuster (or serverbuster, as the online moniker goes) deals as shoppers used spare time and high-speed internet access to look for bargains.

Online stores dished out discounts as high as 75% as well as free shipping. The National Retail Federation introduced Cyber Monday three years ago as an online counterpart to the brick-and-mortar “Black Friday” shopping holiday inauguration

Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday saw a 2% increase in online spending, says Reston, Va. online research company ComScore. Prior to that, November online dropped 4% compared to 2007, down to $10.4 billion. ComScore’s sales prediction of $29.2 billion for the holidays would be the first flat sales since e-commerce became popular eight years ago. Compare that with a 19% increase last year over the year before.

Nielsen Online was more optimistic, showing Web shopping either from home or work to improve by 10% on Black Friday, to 31.7 million unique visitors from last year.

The most visited shopping sites according to Nielsen were eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Dell, Sears, Kohl's and JCPenney.

Shoppers were for the most part bargain hunting for electronics, toys and video games, home-and-garden articles, as well as IT products, specifies the Nielsen Online report.

''Many people who didn't want to fight the crowds or get up early to stand in line over the weekend have been waiting for Cyber Monday to start their holiday shopping,'' said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the National Retail Federation's online arm.

Employers were expected to actually lose some $3,000 in productivity per employee due to online holiday shopping, says a survey by nonprofit IT professional association ISACA.

The world of IT is also worried that employers may have inadequate security software to help stop computer viruses or other malware and malicious attacks caused by the flurry of online shopping.

''Today's volatile economy is driving people to work long hours, which puts increased pressure on employees' work-life balance,'' said John Pironti of ISACA's Education Board. The group suggested companies train employees on how to shop safely online while keeping the practice in check.

Despite these methods, as well as other such as 2-for-1 specials and additional discounts, the attempt by retailers to influence the sales this holiday season, the forecast seems bleak, as the latest figures show that this season’s forecast is ultimately one of the worst in at least a decade. It will remain to be seen if Black Friday’s and Cyber Monday’s combined sales manage to offset these gloomy predictions, although retail experts remain unconvinced.

"For the first time there is a major slowdown in online sales," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a Manhattan-based retail consulting and investment banking firm. "That's the story. A day will not make any difference, just like Black Friday."