The day after Thanksgiving was the official start to this year's holiday shopping season and it certainly didn't disappoint. For both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, millions of American consumers flocked to retail stores and websites to stock up on items and gifts. The two days also brought in billions for merchants throughout the country.

According to a recently released report by comScore, Cyber Monday brought in a total of $1.46 billion in online purchases, making it the highest internet spending day in history. This year's Cyber Monday amount is a 17 percent jump from the same time last year.

"Despite some news reports suggesting that Cyber Monday might be declining in importance, the day has once again set an online spending record at nearly $1.5 billion," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. "Now, we shall see the extent to which continuing and attractive retailer promotions are able to boost sales for the remainder of the week."

For Black Friday weekend, both brick-and-mortar locations and websites saw a significant amount of traffic. The Journal Sentinel reports that 247 million consumers hit retail stores, while 89 million went online to shop over three days. This resulted in more than $60 billion in sales from both stores and sites.

This holiday season, there will consumers who shop only at brick-and-mortar stores, while others will stick solely with shopping online. There will also be customers who rely on both methods to buy needed items and gifts. Retailers that provide these channels to accommodate consumers can experience significant benefits, such as increased revenue and boosts in loyalty and retention.

Independent Retailer writes that many businesses are planning to provide both in-store and online shopping options for their customers throughout the holiday season. Brick-and-mortar merchants are merging a variety of physical storefront aspects with digital components. For example, brands are using the location-based capabilities of social media to allow consumers to check-in and share what they are buying. Companies are also implementing gamification elements into their brick-and-mortar stores, giving customers a more engaging way to interact with retailers.

Another trend that is emerging this holiday shopping season is the boost in hiring of temporary retail workers. According to Monster, businesses are bringing on additional employees to help with the flood of customers as well as the merging of physical and digital aspects. Many of these new part-time positions are actually turned into full-time work after the holidays are over.

American consumers hit both retail stores and websites in droves over the Thanksgiving weekend. While definite numbers are not yet known, Black Friday internet sales saw a significant bump from last year's amounts. The holiday shopping season has only just begun, so merchants are still optimistic about strong sales over the coming weeks.

Internet Retailer reports that research from IBM revealed that many shoppers opted out of going to brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday, instead deciding to purchase items and gifts online. Ecommerce retail sales on this day were up 20.7 percent from last year's Black Friday. However, consumers spent less on products and also bought fewer items, IBM found. One of the reasons for this slight drop could be due to businesses lowering the minimum amounts for customers to be eligible for free shipping.

While these numbers were not as high as were hoped for, Black Friday is just the official start of the holiday shopping season, so the next few weeks could see strong boosts in overall retail sales. The National Retail Federation estimates that holiday purchases will increase by 4.1 percent this year from 2011's amounts, reaching a total of $568.1 billion both in stores and online.

With just a few days to go, retailers across the country are gearing up for the official start to the holiday shopping season – Black Friday. To accommodate eager consumers, businesses are opening their doors earlier and offering more discounts and deals for the customers who will flood their stores.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects that approximately 145 million consumers will be shopping during Black Friday weekend. Seventy-one million customers will actually shop on those days, while 76 million plan to wait and see what retailers are offering in their stores.

"Though the Black Friday tradition is here to stay, there's no question that it has changed in recent years; already there is a tremendous amount of excitement and anticipation surrounding retailers' Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions," said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. "It's critical for retail companies to constantly evolve as consumers do, and right now shoppers want great deals, good value, and convenience – exactly what we're seeing with this season's late and early openings, price-matching, layaway, and mobile offerings."

FatWallet reports that this year's Black Friday sales are expected to surpass last year's amount, in which the average shopper spent $398 on items.

The day after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday, has long been the day that customers can hit retail stores to buy gifts and items for the holiday season. However, it seems as though this year, this popular shopping day is being moved up and is no longer starting on Friday for many retailers.

The Chicago Tribune reports that big-name retailer Wal-Mart has decided to open its stores nationwide on Thanksgiving night at 8 p.m., giving eager holiday consumers the chance to stock up on products even earlier. Department store chain Sears is also opening its doors at 8 p.m. on that Thursday night. These retailers will be offering special deals and discounts for early shoppers as well as in-store pickup for customers who purchased products online, the news source states.

Several other big-name stores are hoping to draw in more consumers by opening their doors earlier as well. Macy's is starting its Black Friday at midnight on Friday, November 23, while Gap Inc. announced its stores, like Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic will be open for customers beginning Thanksgiving night. Additionally, Target is getting in on the early Black Friday trend, as it plans to get things going at 9 p.m. that Thursday.

Retailers throughout the Northeast saw significant damage to their stores and operations when Hurricane Sandy hit the region late last month. It seems that even though the debris has been mostly cleaned up for many businesses, there is longer lasting damage in the form of decreased revenue for retailers.

Upstart Business Journal reports that the approximate total of lost retail sales due to the massive storm is $4 billion, according to the MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse. This amount represents about 20 percent of the nation's retail sales, as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other northern states generate nearly $18.7 billion each week. However, for the week that Sandy region, retailers only brought in about $15 billion.

The storm could also have an impact on November retail sales, despite it being one of the busiest shopping months of the year. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that even though merchants may see a rise in their sales amounts after the hurricane, the revenue losses could be too large to make up. Additionally, Sandy required consumers to stock up on necessary supplies, forcing many people to make unexpected purchases which might impact their budgets over the coming weeks.

As American consumers begin rushing into retail stores in the coming weeks to buy items on their gift lists, merchants are doing their best to prepare for the influx of shoppers that are expected. Many businesses have announced that they are planning to hire more temporary employees this year than last year to help with the large amounts of customers during the holiday season. As of now, those employment numbers have only increased slightly from 2011's total of temp retail workers. On the other hand, companies are expecting the best holiday shopping season in five years, and additional staff members are one effective way that retailers can boost their winter sales.

Retail seasonal jobs added in October

Talent Management reports that according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, retailers hired 130,100 jobs to their payrolls throughout the month of October. This is a slight increase from the 128,900 temporary employees that were hired in October 2011. However, last year's seasonal hiring numbers were quite positive, as 660,200 jobs were added overall. It is expected that this year's employment gains will surpass last year's amounts. It will definitely be better than the lowest levels of seasonal hiring in 22 years, which happened in 2008, when retailers brought on only an additional 324,000 staff members to help with the holiday rush.

Of the businesses that are increasing their hiring efforts the most this holiday season, Best Buy, Gap and Toys R Us are at the top of the list, states Forbes. Citing a survey by CareerBuilder, the source reports that 36 percent of companies nationwide are bringing on temp workers this year, compared to the 29 percent who said the same in 2011. In addition, 39 percent of businesses stated they plan to keep their seasonal employees after the winter months and offer them full-time positions.

Holiday workers contribute to high expectations

Retailers are significantly optimistic about this year's holiday sales, and the large numbers of temp workers could be a contributor to this feeling. The Wall Street Journal reports that according to recent research by BDO USA, merchants are anticipating a 3.7 percent increase in same-store sales this holiday season. This is the highest that the figure has been in five years, as it stood at a 5 percent increase expectation in 2007.

As the economy has continued to improve, conditions have been getting better for both American consumers and retailers. With the holiday season fast approaching, shoppers and businesses alike are gearing up for what is expected to be one of the strongest purchasing periods in recent years. Retailers are increasingly optimistic about their winter sales, as new research has revealed that businesses are anticipating sales to be the best since 2007.

Confidence, optimism increasing

As consumers steadily regain their confidence in the recovering economy, so too are retailers. Fox Business reports that, according to a recent study by BDO USA, merchants are expecting at least a 3.7 percent increase in same-store sales this holiday season, both through brick-and-mortar locations and websites. This is the highest level that the figure has reached in five years. Of the sectors that will fare the best during the coming weeks, consumer electronics and gift card sales are anticipated to be the leaders.

"While we haven't returned to pre-recession levels of optimism, retailers are gearing up for what looks to be a promising holiday season," said Doug Hart, partner in the retail and consumer product practice at BDO. "Still, consumers have more choices than ever, and retailers are looking to avoid showrooming by curating a mix of exclusive and top-selling products to get consumers in their door or on their site."

Retailers relying on several strategies

So just what exactly are retailers doing to gear up for the season and draw in consumers over the next few weeks? The San Francisco Chronicle reports that businesses across the country are preparing their stores and operations in the hopes of boosting holiday sales. Brick-and-mortar merchants are especially getting ready for the season, as they want to beat out their online counterparts. The source states that Target has made the decision to match the prices listed on Amazon.com as a way to bring shoppers into their stores. Other retailers, along with Target, are offering same-day shipping as well as faster checkout times for in-store consumers. However, it will not be until after the holiday shopping season has died down for both ecommerce and brick-and-mortar merchants to see how well they performed.

"This will be the first holiday shopping season where (stores) are making a more concerted effort to avoid bleeding sales to online retailers," says Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics, as quoted by the news source. "The question on everybody's mind is how are they going to fare?"

The United Kingdom is hoping to bounce back from the recession as economic conditions continue to improve throughout the country. It seems as though things will keep getting better as retail sales over the past few months have shown solid increases, leading many economists to believe that the U.K. might finally be pulling away from the negative impact of the downturn. The recent positive numbers are giving both retailers and consumers optimism for the near future, and industry experts hope that the trend will continue.

October posts strong year-over-year retail sales

Retailers across the country reported positive sales gains for the month of October, according to latest Distributive Sales Survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Forty-seven percent of respondents stated that their sales are up since a year ago, while only 17 percent reported losses since October 2011. Additionally, more than one-quarter of retailers believe that November will also see stronger sales than the same time last year.

Many sectors within the retail industry experienced gains over the past year, with clothing seeing one of the highest increases from October 2011, with a 57 percent rise. Footwear retailers also reported solid sales for the seventh consecutive month, as their numbers increased by 39 percent year-over-year, the survey revealed.

"It is great news that last month's sales growth has continued into October, at a much faster pace than expected, and that this momentum is expected to continue next month too," stated CBI head of economic analysis Anna Leach. "Falling inflation has somewhat eased pressures on family budgets, so that households are a little more willing to spend. But there's still a risk that ongoing uncertainty over the global economic outlook could dent consumer confidence, hitting prospects for the retail sector, while the scope for inflation to fall further is limited."

September retail sales higher than expected

Perhaps one of the largest contributors to the positive numbers in October came from the previous month, as U.K retail sales in September were better-than expected. Bloomberg Businessweek writes that according to a report from the Office of National Statistics, sales increased by 0.6 percent throughout the month from August. This was a significant rise from the 0.4 percent gain that was forecasted by economists. Industry experts state that higher demand for winter clothing as well as back-to-school sales were large factors to the growth, as clothing purchases increased by 2.1 percent from the previous month. 

After the winds have died down and the rain has stopped, the impact from Hurricane Sandy is still expected to be felt throughout the East Coast, both through damage to homes and businesses as well as losses in revenue for retailers.

According to Business Insider, consumers all along the East Coast rushed to retail grocery stores to stock up on necessary supplies. While this may have resulted in a rise in revenue for these companies, the source states that customer spending from the storm could potentially impact retailers next month, as purchases due to the hurricane are not planned and therefore consumers will be forced to cut back on expenses next month. Additionally, many businesses were forced to close their doors for several days, which led to losses in sales, notes the source.

Halloween stores also felt the impact from Hurricane Sandy. The storm hit the East Coast region on Monday and Tuesday, meaning that retailers selling Halloween supplies did not see the rush of customers they normally do. The Washington Business Journal reports that several Halloween businesses in the Washington D.C. area were forced to close during the hurricane, which resulted in revenue losses.