Nothing is "Normal" This Year, it Seems

The traditional "Black Friday" start to the holiday shopping season seems mixed. Black Friday sales this year showed a very slight increase over last year, according to ShopperTrak. Retail sales increased a very slight 0.3 percent compared to last year with consumers spending $10.69 billion in various retail locations.

Sales on Black Friday 2009 increased 0.5 percent versus Black Friday 2008, with $10.66 billion spent.

ShopperTrak’s data suggests that earlier sales in November might have sapped some of the Black Friday spending. Sales and traffic for the first two weeks of the month through Nov. 13 increased 6.1 and 6.2 percent respectively versus the same two week period in 2009, ShopperTrak says.

As with auto buying and home buying propped up by government subsidies, shoppers might simply have pushed forward planned spending, resulting in no net new sales.

BLACK FRIDAY RETAIL SALES INCREASE A SLIGHT 0.3 PERCENT AS COMPARED TO 2009