Shoppers can get many of the same great discounts as on Black Friday, but they don't have to brave the cold weather.

In fact, shoppers can browse in their pajamas if they choose. Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is when retailers roll out some of their best online deals — most with free shipping — to entice shoppers to buy.

"Combine all the discounts out there right now with free shipping, and you'll really see some great deals," said Luke Knowles, of FreeShipping.org, which tracks offers of Web-based retailers.

While retail spending on Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — rose only slightly from last year, online sales rose a substantial 16 percent, according to research company Coremetrics. Consumers are doing more of their shopping online this year, pushing the average online order to $190.80, up 12 percent from last year, the company said.

"The season's off to a great start," said John Squire, Coremetrics vice president of strategy. "It really shows really strong consumer sentiment for buying and for going online."

Driven by another year of online promotions and offers, Cyber Monday likely will be the biggest online shopping day of this holiday season, Coremetrics said.

All you have to do is check the websites of your favorite retailers as early as possible Monday morning, as some will be unveiling their sales right after midnight. All the major Web retailers, including Amazon.com, WalMart.com, Staples.com and BestBuy.com, are planning Cyber Monday sales running all day Monday as well.

Wal-Mart continues to court shoppers with an array of discounted electronics, including a netbook computer for $318, a Kodak Easyshare Digital Camera for $199 and a 24" LED-LCD HDTV for $199.

Furniture and electronics retailer RC Willey is offering a variety of Monday-only deals at its www.rcwilley.com site, as well as a bonus $50 gift card offer to those who spend $199 or more on Monday and hourly LCD-HDTV giveaways.

CityDeals.com, which sells discounted gift certificates to Utah attractions, retailers and restaurants, will be offering nearly two-dozen heavily discounted deals on Monday at citydeals.com/cybermonday.

One plus of shopping online is that you can easily compare prices before you make your purchase, says Joani Hill, of the Coupons4Utah.com blog. Even if you already have put an item in your online shopping cart, simply call up another browser and check the price of the identical item on other sites before you close the sale.

For example, Hill compared prices on video games that are on sale right now. She discovered that Wal-Mart, which has PlayStation, Xbox and Wii games priced at buy two get one free, came out $10 less than Amazon.com for the same three games she was comparing.

lesley@sltrib.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story. —

How to find the best deals

Check out:

Cybermonday.com

Bfads.net

Gottadeal.com