Research Topic

All those flat screens televisions sticking out of shopping carts in the aisles of Target stores early Friday morning were no optical illusion.

RESTON, Va. — Retailers who promoted their online presence as a way to avoid the crowds this past weekend were rewarded for their efforts with record sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.

New York City -- Retail sales broke records during the Thanksgiving weekend, climbing 16%, according to a survey by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation.  Shoppers spent $52.4 billion, up from $45 billion last year.

A record 225 million shoppers visited stores and malls over the Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million last year. Shoppers on average spent $398.62, up from $365.34 last year, the NRF said.

New York City -- Heading into the holiday season it was widely expected that online sales would enjoy another year of double-digit growth, and now new data from the online measurement firm comScore confirms those earlier expectations.

Reston, Va. -- For the first 20 days of November, comScore reported that online spending rose 14% to $9.7 billion. The company forecast that online sales for the full November through December period would increase 15% to a total of $37.6 billion.

New York City -- Consumer spending rose less than forecast in October as Americans even as personal incomes showed the biggest gains in seven months.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that spending increased 0.1% last month, the poorest gain in four months. But incomes increased 0.4%, the best showing since March, with private wages and salaries driving the income gain.

Most economists had forecast spending to rise by 0.3% and income by 0.2%.
 

Memphis, Tenn. -- Discounter Fred's Inc. reported Tuesday that profit for the third quarter rose 16% to $9 million, compared with $7.8 million a year earlier.

Revenue increased 2% to $444.4 million from $435 million last year, missing Wall Street’s expected $446.5 million in revenue.

Same-store sales rose 1.5%.

New York City -- The third annual Retail Finance Outlook released Tuesday by CIT Group found that 80% of retail executives expect their holiday sales to increase or remain the same as last year. And they are eying social media as a means to drive sales.

Among the notable shopping days this holiday season, more than one-third of executives expect Black Friday sales to increase this year; more than a quarter expect Cyber Monday sales to be up and nearly a quarter expect Super Saturday sales to increase.