NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Who won the annual duel between consumers and retailers this holiday shopping season? It's a tough call this time around but the odds are probably tipped in favor of consumers.

Why? Because plenty of retailers aggressively slashed prices early and again dug deep with discounts in the last few days before Christmas.

This implies that merchants were nervous that concerns about high gas prices, home-heating bills and rising interest rates were weighing on consumers' minds and that shoppers would be tight-fisted with their gift spending.

At the same time, shoppers showed they weren't afraid to charge up their credit cards as long as the discounts were worth it. [Full story]

The holiday shopping season is critical for the nation's retail industry since many store chains chalk up more than half their annual sales and profits in November and December alone.

Industry trade group the National Retail Federation expects holiday saleswill rise 6 percent overall to $439.5 billion, softer than last year's 6.7 percent increase.

Other industry watchers said they're confident retailers will see a fair but not spectacular holiday season, characterized by a last-minute burst in sales just shy of the finish line. [Full story].

Bargain-hunters once again went ga-ga for gadgets as shoppers picked up not one but multiple digital cameras, MP3 players, flat-screen TVs and personal computers. The Xbox and the iPod jointly won the hottest products awards. [Full story]

Santa shopped online in a big way. How big? One report estimates that consumers spent $30 billion cyber shopping over the holiday season, up 30 percent over the same period last year. [Full story]

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