Will post relevant news/stats here:

Big sales, but what about profits?

Buy.com Reports Best Sales Day in Company History (MarketWatch – 12/1)

US Retail Stocks Fall on Holiday Shopping Worries (CNBC – 12/1)

Holiday Central 08 – CNBC

Holiday Sales Views Still Weak After Weekend Rush (CNBC – 11/30) – “According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), shoppers spent an average of 7.2 percent more per person to nearly $373 during the four-day holiday weekend from U.S. Thanksgiving on Thursday through Sunday. Total spending was $41 billion.  More than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites during that time, up from 147 million a year ago, the NRF said. Excluding repeat visits, the number of people who shopped over the weekend rose to 110 million from 99.5 million a year ago. But the NRF kept its forecast for total holiday sales growth of 2.2 percent to $470.4 billion, saying consumers had done more of their shopping in the Black Friday weekend in the past. Momentum is likely to drop sharply in the coming weeks and stores may need to offer even more aggressive discounts.”

Holiday season off to a modest start (AP – 11/30) – “ComScore, an Internet research company, reported Sunday that online spending was up a modest 2 percent for the combined Thanksgiving Day and Friday, compared with the year-ago period.”

Wii leads the way on healthy Black Friday (News.com – 11/30) – Pricegrabber says traffic up 11% y/y

Black Friday Web sales jump (Reuters – 11/29) “PayPal, an online payments service owned by eBay, saw almost 34 percent more transactions this Black Friday than a year earlier, eBay said on Saturday. PayPal saw sales rise 26 percent on Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday that traditionally kicks off the U.S. holiday shopping season. PayPal said its sales numbers reflected 12 percent of all U.S. e-commerce.  Amazon.com said Apple Inc’s iPod touch was the top-selling electronics item on Friday morning, followed by a Canon Inc PowerShot camera. Wii Fit and the Wii console were the top-selling items in the video game category, while the LeapFrog Tag Reading System was the best-selling toy.”

Black Friday sales chalk up 3% gain from last year (MarketWatch – 11/30)

Black Friday takes a hit from the economy (Boston.com – 11/29)

Holiday Sales Blog (WSJ – 11/28)

All Eyes on Holiday Shopping Turnout in Bleak Economy (NYTimes – 11/28)

Live Cashback Having a Bad Black Friday (TechCrunch – 11/28)

US shoppers seek deals, buy less on Black Friday (Reuters – 11/28)

Apple offers limited Black Friday price cuts (Reuters – 11/28)

Shoppers cautious with gadget buys on Black Friday (Yahoo! Tech – 11/28)

Black Friday traffic takes down Sears.com (Yahoo! Tech – 11/28)

Shoppers hit stores but mood is subdued (WSJ)