Friday, November 25, 2011

Happy Black Friday

Going shopping today? The nation's retailers certainly hope you have the dedication - and extra spending money - of those hardy souls who pitched a tent in front of a Best Buy in Union and camped out all Thanksgiving Day in anticipation of the Black Friday sales. Today is the day that many feel will tell the tale for the success or failure of the all-important Christmas shopping season.

What should we expect? The National Retail Federation forecasts sales in November and December to be up 2.8 percent over last year, which would be a solid rise but well below the 5.2 percent annual gain we saw in 2010. The NRF expects 152 million people to hit stores this weekend, up 10.1 percent from last year, which means there will be more people shopping, but each of them will be buying less.

The real action this year may be happening online. The research firm comScore estimates that Americans could spend $37.6 billion on e-commerce this holiday season, which would be up 15 percent from last year. The 2010 increase in online sales was just 12 percent.

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