Black Friday may not save November sales
Wal-Mart and Gap seen as early holiday winners
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Despite improved traffic, the much-touted Black Friday weekend sales didn’t look like it would salvage November same-store sales for retailers, analysts said.

Ahead of retailers reporting same-store sales results for the month on Thursday, analysts over the weekend cut their November estimates to a 2.9% sales gain from a 3.1% increase last week, according Retail Metrics. The month’s tallies were already under pressure with superstorm Sandy expected to cut sales by as much as 2 percentage points and the U.S. presidential election also distracting shoppers early in the month, Retail Metrics data showed.

“Black Friday may not be enough to save November,” Deustche Bank analyst Charles Grom said, adding his team made 400 calls to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) stores and surveyed more than 1,000 shoppers, besides store visits. “We walked away uninspired by this weekend’s sales results relative to prior years. While most stores were very crowded on Thanksgiving night/early Black Friday morning, it’s clear that sales volume is getting shifted with the pie not necessarily growing.” http://www.marketwatch.com/story/black-friday...2012-11-26