With holiday shopping in full swing, now is the time where we can take a breath, and review the numbers.  While Black Friday sales numbers should not be used as a the only measures of success for the holiday shopping season, it is a valuable milestone for how retailers will fair.  The National Retail Federation estimated that shoppers spent $45 billion on Black Friday this year.  Comparing the numbers from this to last year, we see more shoppers, and each shopper spending more, and that is a good sign.

Last year, there were approximately 195 million shoppers, combining both web and store traffic, compared to 212 million shoppers this year, that is 17 million more shoppers this year.  And the average basket size has improved, moving from $343 to $365. That shows an improvement of $374 million dollars this year.  Total retail same-store sales for the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday season, are expected to raise 1.5 percent this year, up from an 0.6 percent increase in 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Still, "Consumers still have concerns about the economy, jobs and paying down debt," said Phil Rist of BIGResearch, the National Retail Federation's survey partner.  The survey points out that store hours also contributed to the increased numbers from this same time last year.  Almost 10 percent of Black Friday shoppers were out ready to shop in the evening before black friday, and almost 25 percent were out by 4am, when some stores opened.

Even though Black Friday is not only factor in determining the success of the holiday season, we hope that it is an strong indicator of what is to come when 4th quarter numbers are released.