Strong Black Friday sales up a surprisingly 3.0 Percent compared to 2007.

Not all bad News, nov 30th. Strong Black Friday sales up a surprisingly 3.0 Percent compared to 2007.
Retailers have to slash prices and offer huge discounts.
News from ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets. Black Friday sales are not always the best indicator for the rest of the Christmas shopping season but give reason for some cautious optimism early in the season this time.


29 Nov RETAILERS FACE MELTDOWN AS CHRISTMAS NEARS
The economic bloodbath that has impacted all sectors of the American economy hit retailers hard during the last month, just as they were gearing up for the make-or-break Christmas selling season.
Of the 26 retail categories surveyed by America’s Research Group for our Consumer Mind Reader™ survey, only three saw increases over last year’s shopping levels.
Discount stores enjoyed consumer spending levels rising from $195.80 last year to $203.95 in this survey. Consumers also spent more at national department stores and hardware stores.
Categories that were especially hard-hit by the recessionary habits included apparel stores, catalog sales, and toy and jewelry retailers. Even the Internet, which had remained steady and even showed some growth, was not immune to the economic woes. Web shopping levels declined steeply, from $46.22 a year ago to $27.73 in this survey.