BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Finding the best Black Friday deals actually started on Thursday evening for many shoppers after some major stores opened earlier than ever to get a jump on the holiday shopping season.

It is unclear how many shoppers were drawn to the earlier openings versus the traditional Black Friday hours, but a survey this month suggested about 17 percent planned to shop at stores that opened on Thursday - Thanksgiving Day itself.

The National Retail Federation estimates that overall sales in November and December will rise 4.1 percent this year to 586 billion US dollars - that’s below last year’s 5.6 percent growth. But the online part of that is expected to rise 15 percent to 68.4 billion.

(Source: CNTV.cn)