Sales during this Thanksgiving holiday weekend brought a sigh of relief to some retailers who were anxious about gloomy sales forecasts due to a struggling economy. Preliminary results from several retail reports say:
- 172 million people visited retail stores and websites on Thanksgiving weekend. That’s up from 147 million shoppers last year (National Retail Federation)
- Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 percent from last year (National Retail Federation)
- Sales on Black Friday and Saturday rose 1.9 percent from last year, with total sales of $10.6 billion and $6.0 billion respectively (ShopperTrak)
- Sales on Saturday fell .8 percent compared to 2007 (ShopperTrak)
- Sales at US Specialty Apparel retailers improved 1.6 percent from last year (SpendingPulse)
- Sales at US Electronics Specialty retailers fell 14.3 percent (SpendingPulse)
- eCommerce sales rose 11.8 percent (SpendingPulse)
For more information, read Sorting Through Black Friday Data
