Friday frenzy kicks off as Wal-Mart reports huge influx of customers

Friday frenzy kicks off as Wal-Mart reports huge influx of customers

NEW YORK - Retailing giant Wal-Mart reported that its stores had received a record 2 million customers within the first hour as the holiday season kicked off in frenzy in the United States today.

Shoppers braved the less-than inviting conditions to make a beeline to major stores to cash-in on bargain deals. Electronic goods like flat-panel television sets, Apple's music player iPod and Microsoft's Xbox 360 are expected to be on top of the shoppers list in the holiday season. Last year, Black Friday sales were the second biggest draw in the year.

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally referred to as "Black Friday" as it symbolically portrays a shift from the red, which is loss, to the black, which is profit. This also happens to be the biggest shopping day in a year as retailers target consumers by offering discounts and resorting to gimmicks to draw people to their stores. Industry estimates suggest that 130 million shoppers will hit the road in search of bargain deals and cheap stuff.

The National Retail Federation has predicted a 6 percent jump in sales to $439.5 billion this season despite the economic slowdown caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the subsequent gasoline price jump. Last year there was a 6.7 percent increase in sales at this time. The NRF also said that holiday spending this season should jump by 5 percent to $738.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart reported that all of its stores were packed to the hilt. The retailer is looking to make up for last year's faux pas when it skimped on discounts to up its profits.
Consumers were not too impressed with Wal-Mart's strategy and flocked to rivals Target, OfficeMax and Best Buy instead. Realizing its grave error, Wal-Mart has decided to be aggressive this time around.

Wal-Mart's $378 HP pavilion laptop is one of the main attractions this year and early reports suggest that they were almost sold out. "We had around 2 million people just in the first hour in Wal-Mart stores today. What's interesting is that people are looking for the deal items but then shopping for other things as well," said Gail Lavielle, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart.