Source:
New York TimesRetailers bet big on November, and the gambit seems to have worked.
Stores extended Thanksgiving sales to early in the month, pushed online discounts and competed on doorbuster Black Friday specials to get consumers spending again. And sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail health, rose 6 percent on average in November versus a year ago, according to a tally of almost 30 retailers by Thomson Reuters. That blew by analyst estimates of a 3.6 percent increase for the month.
Adjusting for shifts in when holidays occurred, that was the biggest increase since September 2006, Thomson Reuters said (there was also a 6 percent increase in November 2007).
Retailers in almost all categories performed well, from mid-tier department stores to discounters to teen-apparel stores. And retailers said discretionary items like fashionable shoes, jewelry and beauty products were selling well in the month. That suggested shoppers were buying fun items again rather than just necessities, which the National Retail Federation, which surveyed consumers shopping over Black Friday weekend, also found.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/business/economy/03shop.html?_r=1
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