Analysts: Thanksgiving Retail Openings May Have Cut Into Black Friday Sales
NEW YORK(AP) -- Thanksgiving Day is eating into Black Friday shopping.
Shoppers spent $9.74 billion at stores in the U.S. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that's typically the busiest shopping day of the year. That's a 13.2 percent drop from a year ago, according to data released Saturday afternoon by retail research firm ShopperTrak. However, combined spending over Thanksgiving and Black Friday rose 2.3 percent.
A few retailers opened stores on Thanksgiving for the last few years. This year, at least a dozen major retailers did so, with some opening earlier in the day. That led some analysts to question whether the Thanksgiving openings would take away sales on Black Friday.
Online sales on Thanksgiving Day also rose, climbing 19.7 percent compared with a year ago, according to IBM Benchmark data.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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