Numbers

Well the numbers from the big shopping weekend are in. They are somewhat mixed:

Total spending rose to 41.5 billion (up 0.5% from last year)
Store traffic rose from 195 billion (up from 172 billion last year)

However, individual spending was down an average of 8% or $343 a person. More people opted for less expensive items in the $8-$20 dollar range.

The best performers from the weekend were the usual suspects:
Walmart, Target, and some higher end clothing retailers

I personally did a lot of shopping over the weekend, but I stuck to clothing retailers like Banana Republic, Gap (owned by the same company) and Izod. There were definitely some deals to be found. Higher ticket electronics items came bundled with free gift cards and free games, but I think actual discounting of the sale price is going to be the only thing to lure in buyers of these items.

Till next time...