Days Before Thanksgiving, Online Shopping is in Full Swing

While retailers might still be carting out decorations and Black Friday deals have yet to hit shelves, the holiday shopping season is already in full swing. Searches for "holiday gift" on Google have already spiked 156 percent since the first of November, and searches for "Black Friday" are up 546 percent. In the days leading up to the biggest shopping event of the year, we took a look at early trends in holiday shopping using Google Consumer Surveys and found that it's shaping up to be the first "nonline" holiday season. People are shopping earlier and shopping smarter, both online and in stores.