Retailers Report Good Start to U.S. Holiday Season

The holiday season started with a growth in sales in U.S. stores and online, somewhat easing fears that the economic situation will have a strong negative affect. Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 in stores and websites since Thursday, a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase, according to an NRF survey. Total spending reached an estimated $41 billion.

Traffic was on the rise, as more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites, a 17 percent increase in traffic.

Despite the good impression the figures make, analysts are cautioning that sales will not continue at this pace. “Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious,” said BIGresearch Executive Vice President Phil Rist. “Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases.”

Online, sales did not go as well, according to a comScore survey. Black Friday saw $534 million in online spending, up 1 percent versus last year. For the combination of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, online sales were up 2 percent. Sales in November totaled $10.41 billion, a 4 percent decline.

In stores, Friday was the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday.

Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year to 16.2 million people.

Eager to get the season shopping over as early as possible, 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 am on Friday while 57.6 percent were at stores by 9 am.

A sign of the times, more than half of the weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. 

About 51 percent of shoppers purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy. Data about jewelry sales is yet to be published.