This year’s holiday shopping season was off and running Thursday, right after Halloween ended.

Target Corp. and Kohl’s Corp. were among the retailers running “Black Friday” preview sales on selected items in stores and online, an early promotional tease to the traditional heavy shopping that occurs the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is Nov. 23 this year.

Research from Adobe Analytics released Thursday projects that online shopping will reach a record $124.1bn this holiday season, a 14.8-percent surge from last year, as American consumers increasingly make their purchases on the internet rather than in person.

That shift, which has been occurring for several years now, is one reason many longtime brick-and-mortar retailers have closed stores or filed for bankruptcy, including most recently Sears Holdings Corp.

Still, having a physical store remains an advantage for retailers because 47 percent of consumers visit stores to see and touch products they want to later buy online, Adobe said.

Three of the busiest online shopping days this season — Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and “Cyber Monday,” or the Monday after Thanksgiving — will show sales gains of 16.5 to 17.6 percent, Adobe estimated.

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