(ABC 6 News) – The trend toward online shopping is causing fewer people in recent years to do their Black Friday shopping at in-person stores.

Long lines of frenzied shoppers desperately waiting for stores to open are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

“Black Friday still is definitely a thing, but it’s not just on the day of Black Friday anymore. So you kind of have to think of Black Friday as a season or as the entirety of Thanksgiving week,” said Kristin McGrath from RetailMeNot.

This year, many retailers are choosing to put their best deals online, with some stores starting sales days ahead of Black Friday.

“All the big retailers trying to the one up on the other retailers so they start offering sales sooner and sooner,” said Kim Sovell, Retail Expert from the University of St. Thomas.

Retail experts say shopping online instead of in-store has its advantages.

“You can immediately compare prices across retailers very, very quickly, which you can’t always do as quickly when you’re in a physical store,” said McGrath. “The other advantage of shopping online is that you can immediately start looking up promo codes, cashback offers and things that make the deals a little sweeter.”

Experts also say following your favorite stores on social media could snag you the best deals.

“If you follow your retailers online, or brands especially, you may be able to get access to exclusive savings such as coupon codes and other discounts that they’re going to offer exclusively through those venues, whether on Instagram or TikTok or Twitter,” said Samantha Gordon from Consumer Reports.

The popularity of online shopping may result in fewer crowds and chaos, but the National Retail Federation still predicts 130.7 million shoppers will be in stores this Black Friday.