Business

Published: Sunday November 29, 2009 MYT 7:43:00 AM

Black Friday spending up 0.5 percent, report says


CHICAGO (AP) - A research firm says shoppers spent only slightly more in stores this Black Friday, the traditional start to the U.S. holiday retail season, than they did last year.

Fresh signs of much stronger online sales on Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, mean more might have shopped from home.

Preliminary sales data show shoppers spent $10.66 billion when they hit the malls on the day after Thanksgiving. That's only 0.5 percent more than last year.

The figures were compiled by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 stores.

Web marketing analyst Coremetrics says the average amount online shoppers spent on Black Friday rose 35 percent.

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