It looks like the Black Friday shopping tradition could be losing its appeal as many shoppers are choosing to avoid long lines and chaos at malls and stores and instead purchase goods from the comfort of their homes through online shopping.

Compared to previous years, many U.S. retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart failed to draw exceptionally large crowds to their stores, despite their enticing discounts and deals. As a result, stocks at both Best Buy and Wal-Mart closed lower, reports Reuters. On the other hand, Target saw its shares tick up.

In addition to shopping online, some bargain hunters opted to give up part of their Thanksgiving holiday and went shopping Thursday evening engage in order to avoid going on Black Friday.

"I shopped online yesterday and picked up most of what I wanted," said Nia Darrell, a 23-year-old student, who said she decided to come out on Black Friday with her friends mainly out of tradition. "I'm out because Black Friday is more like a tradition, but the discounts are similar even online this year."

Meanwhile, Suntrust Robinson Humphrey analysts called Thursday a "bust," adding that "Members of our team who went to the malls first had no problem finding parking or navigating stores."

Jeff Simpson, the director of the retail practice at Deloitte, reasoned the drop in retail sales on Black Friday was due to the fact that retailers "have taken the sense of urgency out for consumers by spreading their promotions throughout the year and what we are seeing is a result of that."

Other analysts point to the fact that up to 20 percent of shoppers plan to hit the stores over the holiday weekend.

According to the Adobe Digital Index Shoppers in the U.S., shoppers spent $822 million online between midnight and 11 a.m. EST. Although that's a 15 percent increase from last year, it still didn't meet expectations for growth by 19 percent. Online sales also jumped by 22 percent on Thanksgiving Day, from midnight to 5 p.m. EST.