Shoppers spent just a bit more, early results show

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Holiday sales data boost retailers

Holiday shoppers spent a little more this season, according to data released today, giving merchants some reason for cheer.

The spending bounce means retailers managed to avoid a repeat of last year's disaster even amid tight credit and double-digit unemployment. Profits should be healthier, too, because stores had a year to plan their inventories to match consumer demand and never needed to resort to fire-sale clearances.

Retail sales rose 3.6 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, compared with a 3.2 percent drop in the year-ago period, according to figures from MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which track all forms of payment, including cash.

Web sales spike as storm strikes East

Stores in the snow-battered East Coast may have been sparse this weekend, but shoppers kept spending online. Retailers spurred sales with new discounts and shipping offers to make sure gifts arrive by Christmas.

The storm that struck the East Coast, from the Carolinas to New York, may have put at least a $2 billion dent in "Super Saturday," which usually accounts for $15 billion worth of sales nationwide, according to weather research firm Planalytics.

Mall traffic was down 10 percent on Saturday, but it surged 65 percent Friday night as more people went out in the storm. Retailers selling must-have items such as Toys R Us, Best Buy, and one-stop shops like Walmart are poised to recover the lost sales better than the rest of industry, Planalytics said Monday.

'Value' buyers now cheap

People aren't just shopping more at Family Dollar. They're buying the lowest-priced stuff on its racks.

Pizza Hut was left hungering for sales as consumers sought better fast-food bargains.

Shoppers' financial strain is clear in the latest batch of corporate financial reports this week. The operative word for the American consumer isn't value . It's cheap .

Shoppers snatch bargains but little else

This Black Friday looked like all the others: throngs carrying shopping bags.

The $200 computers, $59 GPS units and the $3 appliances disappeared in minutes. It's what remained on the shelves that might spell big trouble for retailers.

Kay Miller came to the mall focused.

Triangle company aids online commerce

All day long, a FedEx trailer sits backed up to the merchandise warehouse of Global Golf, which ships golf clubs, shoes, gifts and other accessories worldwide. At the end of each day, a truck comes to haul away the trailer crammed with packages.

Soon it will take two trailers a day as Global Golf shifts to holiday overdrive mode. For Global Golf and most online retailers, the year-end shopping frenzy began on Cyber Monday, following the post-Thanksgiving weekend sales.

The recession knocked the wind out of the retailing sector, but the $156 billion e-commerce industry is expected to keep expanding this year. Cyber Monday and the hectic month that follows until Christmas present particular challenges, mainly in the technological realm.