Black Friday certainly gave retailers a jolt. But whether retailers can ride that energy all the way to Christmas or simply flame out remains to be seen.
They are certainly off to a strong start. Thanks to a decision by retailers like Target Corp. and Best Buy Co. Inc. to open their doors at midnight, Black Friday sales jumped 6.6 percent to $11.4 billion from 2010, according to ShopperTrak. Retail foot traffic also rose 5.1 percent.
But analysts like Colin McGranahan scoffed at the frequent argument by retailers that a strong Black Friday weekend injects "momentum" into the holiday shopping season.
"I chortle at" that notion, said McGranahan, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein in New York. "A consumer doesn't think about momentum. They already spent all of their money on Black Friday!"
Retailers design their Black Friday strategies as a defensive measure, to make sure they stay competitive with everyone else and retain their fair share of business, McGranahan said.
"It's the prisoner's dilemma," he said.
McGranahan said the midnight openings might have driven more people to the stores but that doesn't necessarily mean retailers will see fatter sales once they close their books for the fourth quarter.
The strong Black Friday performance "only sucks sales out of December," he said.