Black Friday Sales Estimated Up 3%, Online Traffic Up 11%

[mandy]

U.S. holiday retail sales increased 3 percent yesterday from a year earlier, the smallest gain for a “Black Friday” in three years, research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp. said.

Sales rose to $10.6 billion, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The increase was the smallest since a decline of 0.9 percent in 2005 and compares with a jump of 8.3 percent last year...

full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBvgyrY3aNPg&refer=home

Despite Slow Economy Traffic Increases 11 percent compared to Black Friday 2007

...11 percent increase in traffic year-over-year on Black Friday. Data from PriceGrabber.com shows that online consumers are taking advantage of promotions on popular electronics including: LCD and Plasma TV's, Blu-Ray Disc Players, Digital SLR Cameras, Laptops, and Video Game Consoles...

  Most popular products on Black Friday

    1.  Nintendo Wii Console
    2.  Ugg Australia 'Classic Short' Boot
    3.  Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player
    4.  Samsung LN52A650 52" LCD TV
    5.  Nintendo Wii Fit
    6.  Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42" Plasma TV
    7.  Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones
    8.  Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital Camera Kit
    9.  Acer Aspire One AOA110-1295 Notebook
    10. Canon PowerShot A590 IS Black Digital Camera

full press release: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Pr...AEC342B6F0}

[mandy]

Comscore on Black Friday:

Ecommerce spending on Black Friday up 1% vs 2007
Ecommerce Thanksgiving/Black Friday spending up 2% vs 2007
November ecommerce spending down 4% from 2007

“Early reports suggest that Black Friday sales in retail stores were slightly better than anticipated in this depressed retail climate, and that performance apparently extended to the online channel, which saw sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday combined increase 2 percent versus year ago,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni. “It’s probable that on Black Friday consumers responded positively to the very aggressive promotions and discounts being offered in retail stores, so it will be important to see how they respond to similarly attractive deals being offered online on Cyber Monday, the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season.”

full press release: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2604

[mandy]

Cyber Monday sales better than expected...

The Monday after Thanksgiving was better than expected, retailers say

The doom and gloom of the economy continues, and online sales on Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving, barely registered growth, up a mere 1%, according to web measurement firm comScore Inc. But yesterday appears to have brought better news, based on reports from several online retailers about sales Monday, the day after Thanksgiving weekend that’s typically the first of the big online shopping days of the holiday season...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=28653