NEW YORK – The holiday shopping season appears to have gotten off to a lukewarm start nationwide, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that monitors retail sales.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one bright spot in the crowd, reporting that its sales exceeded expectations.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets, overall sales on Friday were relatively unchanged compared to a year ago, despite heavier discounting and expanded hours that drew a surge of shoppers to stores in the early-morning hours.
The Chicago-based research group reported total sales Friday at $8 billion, down 0.9 percent from a year ago.
“Although the Black Friday number is a bit flat, this may be misleading, as we’re comparing this to a very strong 2004 performance,” said MichaelNiemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers, in a statement.
He added that while Black Friday – so named because the post-Thanksgiving surge of shoppers often pushes stores into profitability for the year – is important to merchants, it’s not always the best indicator of consumer shopping patterns for the remainder of the season.
At Wal-Mart, deep discounts and expanded hours appeared to have paid off.
The world’s largest retailer said Saturday that it expects to post a solid 4.3 percent gain in same-store sales for November, helped by better-than-expected sales on Friday. That’s at the midpoint of its growth forecast of 3 percent to 5 percent. The sales results cover the four-week period through Friday.
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