Stores along the snow-battered East Coast may have seen sparse traffic this weekend, but shoppers kept spending online. Retailers scrambled to generate more sales this week by extending hours, broadening discounts and sweetening shipping offers to make sure gifts arrive by Christmas.

The storm that battered the East Coast, from the Carolinas to New York, may have put a $2 billion dent in "Super Saturday," which usually accounts for $15 billion worth of sales nationwide in the days before Christmas, according to weather research firm Planalytics.

Mall traffic was down 10 percent nationwide on Saturday, but it surged 65 percent Friday night as more people went out before the storm. Retailers ranging from Toys R Us and Best Buy to Walmart that offer must-have items or are one-stop locations are poised to recover the lost sales better than the rest of industry, weather research firm Planalytics said Monday.

Local retailers have a chance to fare well, too, as shoppers pare down lists and look for specific gifts.

But not all shopping was lost over the weekend. Temperate weather in many parts of the country kept many brick-and-mortar locations busy. Other shoppers turned on their computers to complete their Christmas lists. Lots of consumers had been deleting e-mail offers of free shipping and other discounts this month, but on Saturday, with more offers pouring in from stores such as Barnes & Noble and Staples, many decided to take a second look.

Online retail sales rose 22.4 percent for the weekend, compared with last year, Web research company Coremetrics said. On Saturday alone, sales were up 24.8 percent.

Even online sales Monday morning were strong as shoppers raced to make purchases so they could be delivered by Christmas.

"This teaches consumers that maybe those of us who procrastinate, we still have time to go online very close to Christmas," said John Squire, Coremetrics' chief strategy officer.

Retailers were ready to prod those sales along. Amazon.com extended the cutoff for standard shipping by one day through Monday, and offered free two-day shipping for select electronics products. It would not release figures for weekend traffic.

Macy's and J.C. Penney's Web site also extended dates for free shipping. Shoppers are busy hunting for last-minute deals. Retail Web traffic peaked at 2.9 million visitors per minute Saturday night, according to the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index. That was up from 1.9 million on the Saturday before Christmas in 2008, though that day -- Dec. 20 -- was closer to Christmas than this year.

The Sunday peak was 3.5 million visitors per minute, compared with 2.2 million on the Sunday before Christmas last year. Monday's numbers were nearing those levels but hadn't peaked by late afternoon.

Now that the storm is largely gone, some bricks-and-mortar stores are extending early morning bargains that had been offered on Saturday through Wednesday. Scott Bernhardt of Planalytics said he is seeing stores opening earlier and closing later and boosting more promotions to get people shopping. He said retailers can help make up sales by adding more hours to counteract the loss from Saturday.