• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, September 28, 2011

Americans aren't just more adept at using the Internet for holiday shopping every year, they're more nimble at clicking their way through to bigger discounts.

Online visits to the Retail 500 are up 17.5% so far this year, reports Experian, and it is predicting that this holiday, that means people will be looking harder (and earlier) for big discounts. "Consumers are definitely on the hunt for the deal," says Bill Tancer, head of global research for Experian Marketing Services, in its 2011 holiday webinar "Three to four years ago, for example, we wouldn't see an increase in Black Friday searches until mid-November. Now, we're starting to capture data as early as the end of September."

Among the most popular searches are percent off deals. "In 2009, 20% was the most common search, then 30% in 2010. We expect more of that," he says, "since consumers tend to be conditioned to search for offers they've already seen."

A relatively new demographic, which it calls "Boomers and Boomerangs," Boomers that have adult children leaving at home with them again, are among the most active deal-seekers.