Survey finds holiday sales rose 4 percent

Consumers spent more this holiday season, boosting retailers' sales by 4 percent, according to ShopperTrak, and some analysts expect them to keep spending, although cautiously.

Retailers, many of whom began sales promotions early in November, saw a strong gain of 5.8 percent in revenue compared with the same period last year. December sales slowed to just a 2.6 percent increase, said ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based market research consulting firm.

It announced the results Monday at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in Manhattan. The retail trade group is expected to release its holiday retail numbers Friday.

Christmas fell on a Saturday, which eliminated a typically strong weekend shopping day. That also shifted the post-holiday sale kickoff to a Sunday, a day when some states still restrict store hours, said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak's founder.

In addition, the blizzard that hit the Northeast on Dec. 26 and 27 delayed almost $1 billion in sales, he estimated.

Shopping visits for the holiday season remained about the same as last year, the company reported.

Manhattan-based Deloitte Llp's holiday consumer survey indicated that shoppers intended to return to the pre-recession practice of shopping for themselves while buying gifts for others, said Alison Paul, vice chairman and U.S. retail leader of the accounting and consulting firm.

But analysts caution retailers are not out of the woods yet. Consumers may be willing to spend more, but they are still driven by sales, Martin said.

For the first quarter, ShopperTrak forecast a 2.8 percent decline in shopping foot traffic but a 2.2 percent rise in sales compared with the same period last year.

Martin attributed the expected sales increase to both inflation and consumers' saving less. "I don't think there's going to be a significant lift in traffic until we see improvement in employment numbers," he said.