US shoppers went to shops earlier over the Thanksgiving weekend and bought online more than in years past, giving retailers a strong start to the holiday shopping season according to new figures.
Total spending for the long weekend rose to $59.1 billion, up 12.8% from last year, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation. An estimated 139.4 million adults visited US stores and websites from Thanksgiving through Sunday, up 6.4% from last year, the survey, conducted for the industry trade group by BIGinsight, said.
While holiday shopping appeared to be off to a good start, analysts cautioned against reading too much into one weekend's numbers. Retailers have to sustain the initial burst through the November-December holiday season, which can account for a third of annual sales and 40% to 50% of profits for the year.
The impact on the US economy is also sizeable as consumer spending accounts for about 70% of all economic activity. US employment has undergone a slow but steady recovery, but concerns remain about the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to produce tax increases and automatic spending cuts in January.
Staying open on Thanksgiving became more widespread this year as retailers such as Target, Sears and Toys R Us joined in, while others including Wal-Mart and Gap either extended their operating hours or had more stores doing business.
Traditionally, stores had waited until Black Friday to make their big push.
In the latest sign of the growing importance of Internet-based retailing, comScore said Black Friday online sales topped $1 billion for the first time, while IBM said online sales rose 16.9% year-over-year on Saturday.
Amazon.com was the most-visited retail website on Black Friday - the point when retailers in the past would turn a profit for the year - and it posted the highest year-over-year visitor growth rate among the top five retailers.
Wal-Mart's website was second, followed by sites run by Best Buy Co, Target Corp and Apple, comScore said.
Analysts said while some of the larger retailers such as Wal-Mart saw strong traffic through the weekend, traffic appeared to ebb at some smaller specialty retailers by Saturday.
The US National Retail Federation still expects sales in November and December to rise 4.1% this year, below last year's 5.6% increase.
