Despite the turmoil and all the anecdotal reports of sluggish Black Friday sales, seems that the actual sales data told a different story. The AP is now reporting that Black Friday sales increased by 3% over last year. This happening despite the month-to-month decline of 3% that occurred in October.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...business&tsp=1

The holiday shopping season got off to a surprisingly solid start, according to data released Saturday by a research firm. But the sales boost during the post-Thanksgiving shopathon came at the expense of profits as the nation's retailers had to slash prices to attract the crowds in a season that is expected to be the weakest in decades.
Might be the case of perception shaping reality here, since just about everybody I talked to indicated that the crowds were smaller than they remember from years past. But, if stores increased their sales, I wonder where these revenues came from. At the Best Buy store where my friend works, he indicated that they still had the doorbuster TVs in stock at midday, whereas in years past those sets would be gone within the first hour.

It could also be a case where the discounting cuts more broadly and deeper than in Black Fridays past. The enticements aren't limited to just a few doorbuster deals. For example, Carter's put their entire store at 50% off beginning on Tuesday and going through Saturday.