Businesses couldn’t ask for a better Christmas present, and it came only a day after Thanksgiving. Early store openings and heavily discounted promotions created a shopping frenzy that beat last year’s record. All in all, the National Retail Federation estimates that $52.4 billion was rung up at merchant registers during the four day weekend. This easily beat last year’s total of only $45 billion. It appears that consumers in the United States have decided that it is safe to shop again. That’s good news for the economy as consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. When it’s down, layoffs and red ink abound. When consumer spending is up, it’s good news for everyone.

Individual Tally

It also appears that consumers are not just spending on gifts for Christmas. They’re also willing to treat themselves. If the record sales during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend are any indication, this will be a good year for holiday sales. It is estimated that each shopper has already spent approximately $400 and there are still many more weeks to go before Christmas arrives. That may not seem like much, but there are a whole lot more people out shopping that last year, also.

More Shoppers Appear

Last year 212 million people shopped during the four day Thanksgiving break. This year, the numbers show an increase to 227 million shoppers. This does not even include the sales on Cyber Monday, a time when many employees are shopping for deals online. It is expected that 122 million more people will do some of their holiday shopping on Cyber Monday. In anticipation of the additional online traffic, merchants are rolling out deals that might only last the day and then be swept away. If anything, retailers know that in order to close the deal, it is a good idea to offer earth-shattering deals, but also make them either time-limited or quantity-limited to fuel the feeding frenzy.