Nearly nine in 10 retailers will offer special promotions for Cyber Monday, with half of those heading into shoppers' inboxes via special email alerts.

That's the word released today by the National Retail Federation, which also notes that 68.8 million people - or 53.5 percent of workers with Internet access - will hope for holiday gifts while at work.

Those facts combine to make Cyber Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving - one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.

“Retailers have a very acute sense of the importance of Cyber Monday in kick-starting holiday sales and have been planning their promotions for months,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of teh NRF's Shop.org in a statement. “It seems like companies up the ante every year for Cyber Monday, and many holiday shoppers are eagerly anticipating the bargains that await them this year.”

According to Shop.org’s eHoliday Survey, 87.1% of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 83.7 % last year and 72.2 % in 2007.

The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (42.9%), one-day sales (32.9%), and free shipping on all purchases (15.7%). Half of retailers (50.0%) will distribute promotions and deals to shoppers through a special Cyber Monday email.