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Retailers cash in as shoppers boost Black Friday sales 6 percent(Daily Oklahoman, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov. 28--Retailers across the country cashed in this weekend as more shoppers woke up earlier and spent more than they did last year during day-after-Thanksgiving sales. The day after Thanksgiving, deemed Black Friday by retailers who traditionally mark it as the day they come out of the red and begin making a profit, is one of the most trafficked shopping days of the year. Black Friday 2006 proved to be even busier. Sales Friday alone increased 6 percent compared with Black Friday sales the previous year, according to ShopperTrak, which monitors sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets. The spending surge kicked off the shopping season to a strong start. More than 140 million shoppers flocked to stores over the weekend and spent $360.15 on average, up almost $60 from last year, according to a National Retail Federation survey. Sales for the combined Friday and Saturday period rose 3.4 percent to $14.66 billion compared with the corresponding period a year ago, ShopperTrak reported. However optimistic, this weekend's sales are not a good indicator for retailers on the outlook for the rest of the year, said Ellen Davis, the retail federation's spokesman. "Since Black Friday is so promotional, retailers don't get a complete sense of how the rest of the holiday shopping season will fare. Black Friday usually gives retailers some insight into what their consumers want to buy and how much their customers will be spending." Clothes and accessories were some of the most-purchased items over the weekend with 41 percent of Black Friday shoppers buying at least some type of apparel. The same percentage of consumers also picked up smaller-ticket items such as books, CDs, DVDs, videos and video games. Best Buy stores opened an hour earlier this year, and all the employees at the north May Avenue store were on duty Friday to point racing customers through the maze of aisles toward the items they were looking for, manager Jeff Lyles said. He said MP3 players, flat panel TVs and laptops were some of the hottest selling items on Friday. He added the Nintendo Wii to the list, although it didn't hit shelves until later in the weekend. According to the retail federation, 33 percent of shoppers bought electronics or computer-related accessories over the weekend. Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |