Holiday Shopping Off To A Brisk Start

November 26, 2007 · Filed Under Business News, Economy, U.S. News

The so-called Black Friday that traditionally marks the start of the holiday retail season, jumped 8.3 percent to a preliminary total of 10.3 billion dollars.

The holiday shopping season viewed as crucial for US economic momentum got off to a robust start as consumers shrugged off worries about high fuel prices.

According to the research firm ShopperTrak RCT, sales for November 23, the so-called Black Friday that traditionally marks the start of the holiday retail season, jumped 8.3 percent to a preliminary total of 10.3 billion dollars.

“We anticipated that the 2007 trend would continue and consumers would be willing to spend despite all of the economic pressures we’ve been hearing about heading into the season,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.

“Although retailers need to remain cautious, the Black Friday outpouring should have them breathing a sigh of relief and they will be paying close attention to see if consumers continue this strong shopping pace throughout the holiday season.”

On the Internet, sales were strong, according to research firm comScore, which said e-commerce spending in the November 1-23 period rose 17 percent to 9.3 billion dollars.

Online retail spending was strong on both Thanksgiving Day (up 29 percent to 272 million dollars) and on Black Friday (up 22 percent to 531 million), according to comScore.

As has been the case in recent years, Consumer Electronics remain one of the most popular gifts so far this season.