By Parija B. Kavilanz , CNNMoney.com senior writer December 24 2007: 4:33 PM EST NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Malls were open around the clock and stores came through with huge discounts - but it was unclear whether a last-minute shopping frenzy would put retailers over the top. A survey released Monday afternoon by ShopperTrak said that weekend sales jumped 18.7 percent over a year ago, with sales on Saturday - usually the busiest shopping day of the year - climbing 7.6 percent.
ShopperTrak had reported sluggish sales leading into the final weekend. But industry analysts earlier on Monday expressed concern over the pace of sales. The weekend seems like it was disappointing, said Stevan Buxbaum, retailing expert and executive vice president of consulting firm Buxbaum Group. Buxbaum, citing anecdotal information based on his surveys of malls in Minneapolis over Saturday and Sunday, said stores looked busy but not like the final weekend frenzy you’d expect.
In Abercrombie Fitch, the clothes were perfectly stacked when the store should’ve looked like a war zone, Buxbaum said. Bad weather in the mid-west probably also kept people at home, he said. Britt Beemer, CEO of America’s Research Group, also thought sales were weak based on interviews of 800 consumers on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23. Although over half of Americans shopped this weekend, only seven in ten (71 percent) are completely done with their Christmas shopping, Beemer said in a report.
We normally expect 85 percent of shoppers out on the last weekend before Christmas saying that they have finished shopping. Beemer’s survey also asked about the most commonly visited retailers. More than 90 percent of respondents said they had shopped at Costco ( COST , Fortune 500 ), J.C Penney ( JCP , Fortune 500 ), Wal-Mart and Barnes Noble ( BKS , Fortune 500 ).