Research firm says sales rise 0.9 percent for Black Friday, Saturday; traffic down slightly

ShopperTrak: Sales rise 0.9 for Friday, Saturday

NEW YORK — A research firm says retail sales Friday and Saturday edged up 0.9 percent, while customer traffic fell 2.7 percent compared with last year.

ShopperTrak, based in Chicago, says total sales for Black Friday and Saturday reached $16.77 billion.

Saturday showed a bigger sales increase than Friday as shoppers continued to buy discounted items.

ShopperTrak says that U.S. traffic slipped 2.5 percent on Friday, compared with an 18 percent drop in the year-ago period. Traffic fell 3.2 percent Saturday, compared with a 17 percent drop a year ago.