Winter Holidays

Chicago -- Shoppers visited more stores and spent more money across the days of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday (Nov. 28 and 29) than they did last year, according to ShopperTrak.

When compared to Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year, brick-and-mortar shopper traffic increased 2.8%, to more than 1.07 billion store visits. Retail sales also increased by 2.3%, as shoppers spent an estimated total of $12.3 billion across the two days.

Canada's Jean Coutu Group is helping to bolster holiday sales with the launch of its "e-store window" inside the Longueuil Metro Station. Commuters will be able to shop a wall of deals using their smartphones with delivery before Dec. 24. 

Chicago -- A majority (88%) of retailers are using social media as part of their 2013 holiday marketing blitz. But they still remain divided about mobile marketing, with only 38% using it this year, down from 50% in 2012.

Retailers were effective at getting a record number of Americans to visit stores and Web sites over the weekend, but persuading them to spend money was a different story, according to data released by the National Retail Federation Sunday afternoon.

December 2013 is projected to be the fifth coldest in more than 22 years and the coldest in three years for the U.S. as a whole. Temperatures will be much colder for the eastern half of the U.S. with below-normal cold expected in the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Northeast. The start of the month is expected to be cold and stormy while the week after Christmas looks milder and drier in the East. A stormy pattern during the first three weeks of the month promises to also be snowy with above average snowfall across the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, South Central states and the Northwest.

Even before its final round of deals kicked in at Walmart on Friday morning the retailer announced that sales had exceeded last year’s record-breaking results with 10 million transactions completed between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Westlake Village, Calif. – Consumers show unique online shopping patterns on Cyber Monday. According to figures released by integrated online marketing company ValueClick, while most online shopping activity occurs between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. local time on a typical weekday, the heaviest volume shifts to 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time on Cyber Monday, peaking at 8 p.m.

Irving, Texas -- Zale Corp. narrowed its first-quarter loss slightly and reported its 12th consecutive quarterly sales increase.

Zale reported a net loss of $27. 3 million in the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared to $28.3 million, a year ago. The prior year included a gain of $1.9 million from a settlement.

First-quarter sales increased 1.4% to $363 million, in line with expectations.

Same-store sales rose 4.4%. Zales Jewelers and Zales Outlet stores posted a same-store sales increase of 7.5%.