IndiaRetailBiz

The first Friday after Thanksgiving has been named so because retailers move into the black from this day of the year. It marks the beginning of holiday shopping seasons and accounts for as much as 5% to 8% of Christmas sales, in the U.S.

Black Friday, began on a happy note for retailers in the U.S. this year. ShopperTrak, which keeps tracks of shoppers’ spending in the U.S., estimated that Friday sales were 8.3% higher than the previous year. National Retail Federation (NRF), the representative body of Amercan retailers, had predicted lowest rise in the past five years of of 3.5%.

This comes on the back of fears of slowdown arising from employment worries and sub-prime wows resulting in credit crunch. Black Friday is believed to have generated $40 billion of sales this year.The amount of money spent by each shopper though, according to a report, was lower at $348 per customer this year, compared to $360 last year.

Experts, are attributing the surge in sales to dangling of steep discounts and observation of longer shopping hours this year by the retailers. This has resulted in cost-conscious consumers flocking to discount chains like Wal-Mart and Best Buy compared to expensive chains, according to a survey conducted by BIG research.

Mastercard Spending Pulse, which tracks national retail sales based on spending through MasterCard payment network, is predicting a 4 to 4.5% increase in sales this year during Christmas period.