Cyber Monday expected to bring in $1.5 billion

Retail experts expect Cyber Monday to be the biggest online shopping day for the third year in a row.

According to research firm comScore, Americans are expected to spend $1.5 billion, up 20 percent from last year on Cyber Monday, as retailers have ramped up deals to get shoppers to click on their websites.

Cyber Monday is a marketing term created in 2005 by the shopping trade group The National Retail Federation, who noticed a rise in online sales on the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Retailers count on Cyber Monday to jump-start the holiday shopping season.

Amazon.com, which is starting its Cyber Monday deals at midnight on Monday, is offering as much as 60 percent off a Panasonic VIERA 55-inch (140-centimeter) TV that's usually priced higher than $1,000. Sears is offering $430 off a Maytag washer and dryer, each on sale for $399. And Kmart is offering 75 percent off diamond earrings and $60 off a 12-in-1 multigame table on sale for $89.99.

Financial experts believe how well retailers do on Cyber Monday will offer insight into the country's evolving shopping habits during the holiday season. The growth in high speed Internet access and the wide use of smartphones and tablet computers are the reason why customers are relying less on their work computers to shop than they did when Shop.org, the digital division of trade group The National Retail Federation, coined the term "Cyber Monday."

This has caused the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday to become busy for online shoppers.