The spinning for Black Friday not living up to the hype has already begun ......

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) Thanksgiving Day openings and midnight deals at retailers from Target Corp. (TGT) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) drew U.S. shoppers out earlier than ever, trimming spending on Black Friday.

Sales on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. fell 1.8 percent from last year to $11.2 billion, according to a report yesterday from ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based researcher. That compares with a 6.6 percent gain in Black Friday sales in 2011. Foot traffic this year rose 3.5 percent to 307.7 million store visits, ShopperTrak said.

Retailers have turned Black Friday, once a one-day event after Thanksgiving, into a week’s worth of deals and discounts. With the earlier openings, online deals starting as far back as last weekend and new promotions stores are offering to win return visits, shopping malls were less hectic on Black Friday this year, said Ramesh Swamy, an analyst at Deloitte LLP.

“Retailers are going to pace themselves and start rolling out different types of promotions to keep consumers interested,” Swamy said yesterday in a telephone interview from Pasadena, California. Shoppers visiting stores this weekend are getting coupons that can be used starting this week or after Dec. 1 to lure them back, he said. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-25/retailers-thanksgiving-deals-cut-black-friday-sales.html