Holiday retail sales rose 0.5 percent in the "Super Saturday" of the last weekend before Christmas despite a decline in the number of shoppers, a survey showed.
The research firm ShopperTrak said late Tuesday that "foot traffic" among shoppers declined 17 percent from a year ago, possibly due to winter storms in much of the United States.
The firm said sales nonetheless rose modestly from a year ago to 8.75 billion dollars "as consumers continued the trend of efficient shopping during this rather challenging 2008 holiday season."
"Super Saturday's performance highlights the continued economic pressures on the American consumer this holiday shopping season," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.
"That being said, with the current economy and rather poor weather this past weekend, focused consumers still efficiently planned retail visits around deeply discounted items and proved they were willing to spend more on fewer trips."
Martin said he expects Super Saturday to be the number two shopping day of the season behind Black Friday, which is the Friday after the Thanksgiving Day holiday in November.
ShopperTrak also reported year-over-year sales for the week ending December 20 fell 6.5 percent from a year ago, while sales versus the previous week ending December 13 increased a strong 22.5 percent.
Total US foot traffic for the same period versus the 2007 comparison week ending December 22, fell 24 percent.
Copyright 2008  AFP American Edition
