Holiday shopping kicks off in U.S.

But first weekend seen as mixed bag Malls no match for discount chains

NEW YORK—

U. S. retail executives began poring over — and in some cases despairing over — sales receipts from the first holiday shopping weekend. But one pattern has became clearer: Consumers mobbed discount chains, with their $398 ( U. S.) laptops and 5 a. m. openings, but largely shopped right past other specialty retailers at the mall. The disparity, analysts said, could indicate a tough season ahead for clothing retailers like Gap and Aeropostale and even deeper discounts for shoppers as the chains scramble to build momentum in the crucial approach to Christmas.

ShopperTrak, which measures purchases at 45,000 mall- based merchants, found that sales for the day after Thanksgiving fell 0.9 per cent from last year, to $ 8.01 billion, a figure not adjusted for inflation. “The specialty guys just got outgunned this time around,” said John Morris, a retail analyst at Harris Nesbitt. The winners, he said, were the discount chains with locations outside the malls, apparently the beneficiaries of an 11.4 per cent increase in weekend spending among Visa USA cardholders.

Wal- Mart reported that a record 10 million shoppers walked through its doors before noon Friday. The company said Friday sales “ exceeded plans” and that consumers continued to shop after the early morning discounts expired. One possible explanation for the in-the-mall, outside-themall discrepancy: Discount chains, led by Wal- Mart, blitzed consumers with advertising well before Thanksgiving, opened their stores even earlier than last year and offered the most talked- about discounts. The mall- based merchants, on the other hand, largely avoided circulars or television advertising. Gap, in a surprising break with tradition, stopped marketing its marquee brand on TV after years of aggressive campaigns with stars like Sarah Jessica Parker and Joss Stone.

It appeared that the Web snatched at least some of the traditional mall business. ComScore Networks, a market research firm, said online purchases rose 22 per cent for the day after Thanksgiving, to $305 million.

Despite a slower- than- expected start at the mall, the National Retail Federation stood by its forecast for the holiday season. It expects sales to rise 6 per cent over 2004, which would make this year’s performance good, but by no means great.