Black Friday shoppers spend more

Washington - US shoppers were out in full force on Saturday during the year's most important weekend for retailers after laying out an estimated $10.66bn on Black Friday in stores.

The figure was up about 0.5% over Black Friday 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal. The information was compiled by ShopperTrak RCT Corporation which tracks sales at more than 50 000 stores. Companies hope to buy Waterfront

The increase was disappointing measured against expectations by retailers' chief marketing officers of an 1.8% boost over 2008 in their own stores, according to a survey conducted by BDO Seidman LLP in October and reported by Bloomberg financial news service.

But compared to 2008, when sales in November and December declined 5.8% from 2007, the increase was good news.

Monday - so-called Cyber Monday - is expected to see another shopping surge as retailers post special offers to internet buyers. Nearly nine in ten retailers have a special promotion for Monday, according to the National Retail Federation.

Online shopping was already up for some retailers over 2008, according to the California-based Coremetrics. It said that consumers were buying more items per order by 18.3% and spending 35% more per order, or $170.19. Apparel retailers benefited most from the online surge.

John Squire, chief strategy officer for Coremetrics, attributed part of the jump to a recession windfall that forced many online retailers to close over the past year.

"Those who survived the first several months of the downturn are pulling out all the stops to lure shoppers with aggressive incentives," he said.

To max out on consumer spending, some stores now have Twitter accounts -the point-to-point social message system - to list special offers. Some salespeople even have their own accounts to handle questions ranging from availability and price of an object to operation instructions for new electronics systems.

Hot holiday items included discounted high-definition televisions, laptops, Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and winter coats, the National Federation said.

Holiday sales make up a third or more of retailers' annual profit. Consumer spending makes up more than two-thirds of the US economy.

The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday kicks of the official start of the holiday season and is so named because it usually marks the day when retailers' accounts move from the red into the black.

- DPA