Shoppers turn out, but hold on to their wallets

updated 6:13 p.m. ET Dec. 1, 2008

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 luster.

Marcia Turner, 43, a freelance writer in Rochester, N.Y., said she plans to buy a Dell laptop before Christmas, but is holding off for now.

“I suspect prices will come down further before the holiday season is out,” she said. “I doubt they will go up, so there is little risk in waiting, as I see it.”

Crowds turned out for early morning specials after Thanksgiving on “Black Friday” — so called because it had historically been the day retailers turned profitable for the year — but many analysts say they 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 day usually occurs later in December 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.

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Traffic at online retailer eBags.com was up 12 percent compared with the Monday after Thanksgiving last year and sales were up 10 percent as of 1 p.m., said co-founder Peter Cobb — about what he expected. The site is offering a 20 percent off deal for Cyber Monday.

“Retailers are much more aggressive this year, as we are,” Cobb said. “We expect to see a big push in the next two weeks.”

Amazon.com, which began running holiday promotions a week ago, said it is focusing less on Cyber Monday than the holidays as a whole.

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