Black Friday Kick-Off to Holiday Shopping Season Hints at Shift Online for Some Retailers

— -- With full bellies -- and, depending on the drink menu, achy heads -- from Thursday’s feast, Americans kicked off the holiday shopping season as they hunted for the best deal they could find on Black Friday.

While the day after Thanksgiving has come to mark the start of holiday shopping, an increasing number of people are shopping online. Some traditional brick-and-mortar stores have begun opening on Thanksgiving night to try and beat their digital competitors.

Early shopping on online retail giant Amazon was set to outpace last year’s Black Friday, the company said in a statement to ABC News. As of about 7:45 a.m., the company said, customers had bought some 100,000 toys.

Shifting opening hours and trends toward online shopping may be transforming the retail event from a day to more of a week.

“I have never seen Black Friday morning so calm," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group.

Despite the tranquility, Cohen told The Associated Press that he predicts sales over the weekend will surpass those from last year.

In a sign of the times, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that this year shoppers were interested in drones, hoverboards and virtual reality products, in addition to traditional Black Friday items like toys and TVs.

Some 60 percent of Wal-Mart's online orders were being placed via mobile phone, the company said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.