Retailers put little hope in Monday sales

NEW YORK – Retailers who saw Thanksgiving holiday sales drop off as the weekend progressed stepped up online promotions on the day known as “Cyber Monday” to try to get consumers tired of the crowds at stores to keep shopping.

But after weeks of already heavy discounting both at regular stores and online, experts were doubtful that the day would give much of a lift to what is still expected to be one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.

“People are expecting that deals will only get better as we approach the Christmas time frame,” said Youssef H. Squali, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. “So while Cyber Monday is significant, I wouldn’t say today is the only day to track. People may opt to wait a little more.”

The Monday after Thanksgiving was dubbed “Cyber Monday” by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the unofficial kickoff to the online retail season – when customers shopped at their desks as they returned to work. But with more deals advertised ahead of time and more consumers with high-speed access at home, the day has lost some of its luster.

Crowds turned out for early morning specials after Thanksgiving on “Black Friday” – so dubbed because it had historically been the day retailers turned profitable for the year – but many analysts say crowds were thinner than last year and shoppers were focused on bargains and smaller-ticket items.

Sales rose 3 percent to $10.6 billion on Friday from the Black Friday a year ago, but slipped 0.8 percent to $6 billion on Saturday, said ShopperTrak RCT, a research firm that tracks total retail sales at more than 50,000 outlets. Total retail sales for Friday and Saturday combined rose 1.9 percent from a year ago. ShopperTrak co-founder Bill Martin expects sales pulled back again on Sunday, for an estimated 1 percent rise over the three-day weekend.

While “Cyber Monday” is not the busiest online shopping day of the year – that usually occurs later, as shipping deadlines approach – retailers who have seen consumers pull back amid the recession stepped up their online deals – offering discounts on clothes and gadgets, set amounts off purchases, free shipping and more.

Merchants want consumers to keep shopping after seeing modest sales gains over the Thanksgiving weekend.

John Morris, an analysts at Wachovia Capital Markets, wrote in a note published Monday: “After a slow start to November, we believe strength on Black Friday was not enough to save the month,” he wrote.