The strong customer traffic and sales trends retailers’ experienced Thanksgiving weekend extended into Cyber Monday when shoppers maintained their record pace of spending and propelled online sales to new heights.

Retailers would be wise to focus more of their efforts on Cyber Monday this year, at least according to new research from IBISWorld, which found that Cybe Monday sales are expected to increase 12.4%.

Target.com was second only to Walmart.com in terms of the number of unique visitors its website attracted this holiday season, and as such is well positioned to capture a large share of this year’s record online spending. Total online holiday sales advanced 13% to nearly $31 billion, according to the online measurement firm comScore. For the 56-day period beginning Nov. 1 through Dec. 26, comScore data showed consumers turned to the Internet in record numbers, especially on such key days as Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday and the final day of free shipping on Dec.17 when online volumes surged 61% to $942 million. This season saw its first billion-dollar sales day on Cyber Monday when sales hit $1,028 billion, a 16% increase from the prior year’s $887 million.

According to research firm comScore, spending on Cyber Monday reached $1.028 billion in online spending,...