Extended store hours Thanksgiving weekend promotions were the least successful holiday marketing tactics, according to a survey of retail CFOs by BDO USA.

Survey results released by PriceGrabber found that with a record 247 million shoppers visiting stores and websites over the Thanksgiving weekend, there are still a significant number of December shoppers this year.

By Jeff Green, president and CEO, Jeff Green Partners

Last-minute holiday shoppers will have some help from Macy’s this year, as the retailer plans keep most of its stores open 48 hours straight the weekend before Christmas, from 7 a.m. Dec. 21 through 7 a.m. on Dec. 23.

Year-over-year retail dollar volume growth on Thanksgiving and Black Friday was healthy at 5.6% as many retailers started the holiday shopping season earlier this year and consumers welcomed the opportunity to find bargains, according to a study by First Data Corp.’s First Data SpendTrend analysis for Black Friday 2012 compared with Black Friday 2011.

Retailers that opened early on Thanksgiving evening gained an advantage and that promotional activity was about on par with last year, according to a new Moody’s report, “Thanksgiving Weekend: The Early Bird Gets the Worm.”

Many retailers blamed Hurricane Sandy for weak sales in November, although some companies were buoyed later in the month by a long Thanksgiving weekend.

ShopperTrak reported Tuesday that it estimates retail foot traffic over the Black Weekend shopping period rose 8.2% year-over-year.

According to a report by IBM, U.S. shoppers took full advantage of early promotions this holiday season, driving a 17.4% increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day.

Retailers enjoyed a strong start to the holiday season as total spending in stores and online over the Thanksgiving weekend rose 13% to $59.1 billion from $52.4 billion, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

As holiday shoppers prepared to battle crowds on Thanksgiving weekend, Wal-Mart workers and supports geared up to protest at stores nationwide, openly criticizing the retailers’ wages, benefits and treatment of employees.

Seventeen percent of consumers, or 41 million people, plan to take advantage of increased shopping hours on Thanksgiving hours to shop, according to the latest consumer holiday tracking survey by The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs.