"Black Friday" Shopping Numbers Up? Maybe.

Here's a fact-based item which has potential implications:

"Retailers kicked off the holiday selling season in style as shoppers across the country set their alarms for the wee hours of the morning to catch doorbuster specials. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2006 Black Friday Weekend Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 140 million shoppers hit the stores on Black Friday weekend, spending an average of $360.15, up 18.9 percent from last year’s $302.81.*" --National Retail Federation press release

Except for the asterisk. Here's the footnote:

"*Spending data includes Thursday, Friday, Saturday and projected spending for Sunday."

But even THAT is not true, according to "The Big Picture," an econo-blog:

First, this is not based upon actual sales data, but rather, is a survey of consumers. Not only that, but much of the survey results are self-reported projections of spending expectations -- not receipts. The survey dates are 11/23-11/25. This means survey interviews done on Thursday 11/23 are almost all forecasts of future behavior; depending what time of the day they are done on Friday 11/24, between 2 and 3 days of data are predictions, and perhaps one day is self-reported data.

In other words, it's not time to celebrate the Biggest Holiday Shopping Season since Whenever.