Early reports indicate that the 2011 Black Friday spend saw a huge year-over-year increase. According to the data group ShopperTrak, retail sales on Black Friday grew 6.6 percent this year compared to just 0.3% in 2010, raking in an estimated $11.4 billion dollars compared to last year’s $10.7 billion of annual sales. This is the most total sales in the history of Black Friday.
“This is the largest year-over-year gain in ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate for Black Friday since the 8.3 percent increase we saw between 2007 and 2006,” said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin in a statement to CNN Money.
Despite the sluggish economy, shoppers proved that they are ready to buy. With preliminary reports for Black Friday indicating that retailers may have seen their strongest sales ever, American consumers appear to be eschewing expectations of frugal spending.
The US is well known for its domestic spending powered economy, however, given the implications for the earth, this kind of spending is environmentally unsustainable.
© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
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