Strong "Black Friday" showings across America were given short shrift by the Washington Post this "Cyber Monday" which buried the story in a four-paragraph blurb on page A10 in the District and Maryland home edition.
But not only were the numbers good in comparison to last year, they far surprassed the expectations of the National Retail Federation (NRF), the industry group which analyzes and forecasts the performance of the American retail industry.
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Last Tuesday the NRF forecasted that "up to 130 million consumers will go holiday shopping this weekend." We know now that 145 million turned out and that according to an NRF-commissioned survey, "the average shopper spent $302.81 this weekend, bringing total weekend spending to $27.8 billion, an incredible 21.9 percent increase over last year’s $22.8 billion."
By and large the media have reported a little bit on strong retail numbers, albeit without playing up the story and the significance of better-than-forecasted retail holiday spending.
Meanwhile, some network reporters like CBS's Joie Chen are still stuck on high gas prices that, well, aren't really so high anymore.
