Thriving online retailers in the U.S. have nothing to worry about, or at least that's the case according to a new report by market research firm Forrester Research.

According to Forrester Research, the online retail business in the U.S. has a good shot at growing 10 percent a  year compounded annually, climbing as high as $249 billion by 2014. Things are looking good in Western Europe too, where sales are expected to jump 11 percent annually over the next five years.

So what items are driving this kind of growth? Not too surprisingly, computer hardware, software, and peripherals are the big sellers, accounting for than half for half of U.S. online sales as a percentage of total category sales. Consumer electronics and clothing are two other areas that are also doing extremely well.

Forget about dealing with pushy crowds and getting up in the wee morning hours during a holiday vacation only to have to wait in line for that one item everyone else is after as well. According to comScore, an increasing number of consumers opted to plant their rumps on the couch or home office chair and shop the Black Friday deals online rather than venture out into the real world.

For the holiday season to date, some $10.57 billion has been spent online, which is 3 percent more than the same time period one year ago. And on Black Friday, consumers spent $595 million online, marking an 11 percent increase over last year. That also ranks as the second heaviest online spending day so far in 2009.

"Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. "The $595 million in online spending this Black Friday represents the second heaviest online spending day of the season-to-date and a double-digit increase from last year. While this acceleration in spending suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter."

Fulgoni went on to say that Cyber Monday (today) and subsequent weeks will provide the real measuring stick for how online retailers fare this season, but that they're off to a great start.

In a few more days, Black Friday will be here, and if you plan on braving the crowds, that means getting up early (or staying up late) and making a mad dash for the electronics section among a frenzy of shoppers with no qualms about pushing, shoving, and trampling anyone who gets in their way. But should your reach your destination unscathed, you may find that the deals are nothing to get excited over considering stores have already had to mark prices down in the current economic climate, or that quantities are so low that if you're not near the front of the line donning a pair of running shoes, you're going to miss out.

CNNMoney.com reveals that in some cases, stores may stock as little as 3 units of those enticing low-priced electronics advertised in your local flier. Sale items could also be "derivatives" of the real deal, such as a large screen HDTV with lower image quality or a less desirable image contrast.

"It's a sleazy practice," said Craig Johnson, retailing expert and president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners. "I am old school. If a retailer is advertising a juicy deal and they are not prepared to have in sufficient quantity, don't advertise it. Or give consumers a raincheck."

Read the full report here.