Aggressive price-cutting by US retailers over the Thanksgiving holiday brought shoppers into stores in droves, according to spending estimates for the weekend that marks the symbolic start of the US shopping season. The National Retail Federation, which represents major stores, estimated that the average US shopper spent $372.57, or 7.2% more than last year, over the four days from Thanksgiving Thursday to Sunday. A survey for the federation by BIG Research also estimated that the number of shoppers visiting stores and online e-commerce sites rose more than 15% yoy to 172m. The strong sales are a sharp reversal from the slump seen in the first weeks of November when retailers’ early promotions failed to drive demand. US shoppers are also being helped by low petrol prices, which have dropped below $1.80 a gallon in many areas after hitting $4 over the summer.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 5:27 and is filed under Capital markets. Edit this entry.