Nov 28 (Reuters) - Online sales in the U.S. were up

about 4% for the first half of the Thanksgiving holiday,

compared to a 2% rise last year, Salesforce ( CRM ) data showed

on Thursday, a fresh sign that shoppers are lapping up steep

discounts from retailers.

U.S. retailers have been rolling out bolder discounts early and

bulking up their holiday deals to capture the attention of more

frugal shoppers this year.

Earlier this week, Best Buy ( BBY ) CEO Corie Barry said the

electronics retailer "expected lower demand between sales

events, but the impact was steeper than expected," echoing

Target ( TGT ) executives who reported a

stronger-than-anticipated response to promotions this year.

While department stores such as Kohl's and Macy's

are being cautious with their annual forecasts due to a slowdown

in sales, Abercrombie & Fitch ( ANF ) and Gap have

raised their forecasts because of strong demand for trendy

apparel. Retail giants Walmart ( WMT ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN )

also are expected to benefit from what could be a mixed holiday

shopping season.

The peak Thanksgiving window for online shopping in the U.S.

will be between 7 p.m. and midnight EST, when 35% of sales are

expected to occur, according to Salesforce ( CRM ), a cloud-based

software company. That figure is based on traffic patterns of

thousands of online retailers.

This year's holiday shopping season, which runs from

Thanksgiving to Christmas, is expected to grow at its slowest

pace in six years, according to separate reports from the

National Retail Federation and Deloitte.

Salesforce ( CRM ) reported online sales of $7.5 billion on Thanksgiving

Day in the U.S. in 2023, a rise of 1% from the previous year.

On Nov. 20, the company projected that Cyber Week, which runs

from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to the Monday after the

holiday, would generate $311 billion in global sales.

Thanksgiving is expected to be the best day to shop for toys,

appliances, furniture and sporting goods, according to data from

Adobe Analytics.