CHICAGO -- Shoppers who endured long lines and sometimes-frigid temperatures spent slightly more during their Black Friday shopping sprees than they did last year, according to data released Saturday by a research firm.
Their pajama-clad counterparts, a much smaller group that accounted for only a fraction of overall sales, shopped online from the warmth of their homes and dramatically boosted their spending.
More than a year after the economy's collapse began rattling shoppers, industry observers said Friday's shopping sprees offered a strong start to the holiday season.
"We have struggled for a long time, and one of the ways for the economy to get going again is for the consumer to begin to spend more freely," said Bill Martin, co-founder of research firm ShopperTrak, which released its sales figures Saturday.
Preliminary sales data from Martin's organization, a Chicago research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 stores, showed 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, when Black Friday sales rose a striking 3 percent.
Web marketing analyst Coremetrics said its data showed the average amount online shoppers spent on Black Friday rose 35 percent as shoppers spent roughly $170.19 per order - up from $126.04 last year.
