Nov 28 Reuters Spending online on Cyber Monday is set to exceed 12 billion, a record, as bargain hunters snap up deals on items including Barbie dolls, Lego sets, headphones and smart watches, according to preliminary estimates from Adobe Digital Insights.

The estimate projects U.S. shoppers will spend 12 billion12.4 billion on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. online shopping day.

A significant portion of this spending, around 4 billion, is expected to occur between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST, particularly from lastminute shoppers, it said. At the top end, this would represent an 9.7 increase compared to the 11.3 billion spent on Cyber Monday last year.

Retailers have been coaxing inflationweary U.S. shoppers to open their wallets on Cyber Monday with push notifications, text messages and video streaming ads touting heavily discounted cosmetics, electronics, toys, clothing and other products.

The push seems to have worked with U.S. shoppers spending 8.3 billion online as of 6 pm EST 2300 GMT, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks data through Adobe39;s Experience Cloud service for ecommerce platforms.

A record amount of pricepinched holiday shoppers are also expected to use buy now, pay later services for Cyber Monday to relieve stress on their wallets, according to the firm.

Whether the consumer is going to continue at this pace or not, we39;ll continue to see them spend. I think this is going to be a much betterthanadvertised Christmas, said Nancy Tengler, CEO of…