The Monday after Thanksgiving was better than expected, retailers say

The doom and gloom of the economy continues, and online sales on Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving, barely registered growth, up a mere 1%, according to web measurement firm comScore Inc. But yesterday appears to have brought better news, based on reports from several online retailers about sales Monday, the day after Thanksgiving weekend that’s typically the first of the big online shopping days of the holiday season.

Retailer eBags.com posted an all-time record day, with sales yesterday growing 50% compared with the same Monday last year, says Peter Cobb, co-founder and senior vice president. The retailer offers numerous products, including more than 12,000 handbags. It placed nearly all of them on sale and realized 51% sales growth in handbags yesterday compared with the same day last year. The merchant also ran a 20% off promotion on all products, and $10 cash back on all purchases made with PayPal.

Target Corp. had a good day yesterday, a spokesperson says. “Sales were up a solid double-digit percentage this year versus the same day in 2007. And we have found the average order size is slightly higher than last year,” she says. “We have continued our focus on emphasizing our value message as well as our biggest free shipping offers ever and deeply discounted items.” (continue reading)