Thin Black Friday Crowds Mark U.S. Holiday Shopping Kickoff

Thin crowds of inflation-weary consumers hunted for Black Friday deals at stores in big cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and other locales, marking the start of a US holiday shopping season crucial to retailers in an uncertain economy, Arriana McLymore, and Doyinsola Oladipo reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: About 166 million people were planning to shop from Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday through this coming "Cyber Monday."

Many shoppers who opened their wallets said their purchases were strategic, not impulsive or splurges.

"We've been waiting" for discounts, said Tulio Rose, 28, who picked up a big-screen TV at a Best Buy store in Los Angeles, while shopping with Barnisha Nill, 35. They saved about $500 on the 85-inch (2.16-meter) Samsung TV for their new apartment.

About 166 million people were planning to shop from Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday through this coming "Cyber Monday," according to the National Retail Federation, almost 8 million more than last year.

But with sporadic rain in some parts of the country, stores were less busy than usual on Black Friday. Online sales will reach between $9 billion and $9.2 billion this Black Friday, a report from Adobe Analytics showed.

The projection is slightly ahead of the company's earlier forecast of $9 billion, which would represent a modest 1% increase from last year.

According to Adobe, US shoppers spent nearly 3% more online on Thanksgiving Day with purchases made on mobile phones driving the increase. Adobe Analytics, which measures e-commerce by tracking transactions at websites, has access to data covering purchases at 85% of the top 100 internet retailers in the US.

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