Cyber Monday: Economist has a warning for online shoppers

BALTIMORE - The holiday shopping season is in full swing. 

Today is Cyber Monday and millions of Americans have been searching the internet for deals.

A local economist told WJZ that Cyber Monday could soon be a bigger shopping day than Black Friday. 

The National Retail Federation estimates that 182 million people went shopping from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, which is about 16 million more shoppers than last year. 

Cyber Monday remains one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if Cyber Monday starts eclipsing Black Friday pretty soon," said JP Krahel, a Professor of Accounting.

More than 71 million shoppers are expected to scour the internet for deals on Cyber Monday.

For online retailers, it's one of the biggest shopping days of the year. However, it is also a big day for local businesses. 

"We usually have 50 to 100 orders a day," said Ali von Paris, the founder of Route One Apparel. "Today, when we walked in, we had 1,000 orders."

Krahel is a local economist who says he is worried about what he calls "buy now pay later schemes" that could lead consumers into trouble down the road. 

"It is a tool that can be used to afford yourself larger purchases, but it shouldn't be a justification to make those purchases," Krahel said. "Of course, businesses are more than happy to encourage you to get into that mindset to say, 'No, I have to get these deals now and pay for them later,' and then that later comes and you aren't in as good of a situation as you thought you might be or other bills start piling up."