Sales slide shows Black Friday hype may be over

New York

HAVE Americans finally had enough of Black Friday madness? Sales, both in stores and online, from Thanksgiving to the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11 per cent, to US$50.9 billion from US$57.4 billion last year, according to preliminary survey results released on Sunday by the National Retail Federation. Sales fell despite many stores opening earlier than ever on Thanksgiving Day.

And though many retailers offered the same aggressive discounts online as they did in their stores, the Web failed to attract more shoppers or spending over the four-day holiday weekend than last year, the retail industry group said. The average person who shopped over the weekend spent US$159.55 at online retailers, down 10.2 per cent from last year.