VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Deals on clothing and cameras helped spur Canadian shoppers to spend more during the most recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend than they did in 2013, according to a report by Canada's largest payments processor.

Jack Reed can see the recovery taking hold at his family's 109-year-old clothing store in Tupelo, Mississippi, with sales buoyed in part by the paychecks tied to a Toyota plant up the road and rising confidence that the jobs are here to stay.

Amarilis Sinchi visited Macy's at a New Jersey mall on Black Friday, but she waited until this week to purchase the red fleece pajamas she had her eye on.

Early holiday promotions and rising online shopping took a toll on in-store U.S. sales during the Thanksgiving weekend as shoppers on average spent 6.4 percent less than they did a year earlier, according to data released Sunday by an industry group.

President Barack Obama and his teenaged daughters, Sasha and Malia, went to an independent book store in Washington to buy books as a way to promote Small Business Saturday, an event aimed at boosting small businesses.

U.S. shoppers spent slightly less money at brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday than across the same two days in 2013, while online sales surged to record highs, data showed on Saturday.

Mall crowds were relatively thin on Black Friday in a sign of what has become the new normal in U.S. holiday shopping: the mad rush is happening the night of Thanksgiving and more consumers are picking up deals online.

You might need two carts to walk away with what may be this year's biggest Black Friday bargain (at least by size): a 65" Vizio television at Walmart for $648.

Macy's Inc, which traditionally kicks off the U.S. holiday shopping season with a nationally televised parade in Manhattan, also will join a handful of other companies this year parading their ads on Facebook's fledgling video feeds.

Dubai-based Souq.com, one of the Middle East's largest e-commerce businesses, aims for high double-digit revenue growth as it introduces "Black Friday"-type discount events to help lure shoppers from the city's retail malls.

With more shoppers wishing to avoid the throng, research firm comScore reported a 15% increase of online spending on Black Friday to USD 1.20 billion.

When Aimee Brittain's team hits the stores in a commando-like fashion on Thanksgiving night in search of Black Friday deals, they'll stand out from the crowd in their matching "very bright blue" shirts. They'll scatter when they hit the store, and the shirts will help them see each other quickly.

An article on The Washington Post gave a list of seven apps that would reportedly help users get good deals and breeze through Black Friday shopping.

Irate shoppers say they will not be spending a dime on stores that will open early as early as 6 A.M. on Thanksgiving for Black Friday and threatening a boycott.

A survey by the Consumer Electronics Association said only 31% of shoppers that were surveyed has plans to buy consumer-electronics products this coming Black Friday. CEA said technology gadgets are the second-most coveted items after clothing during the said shopping period.