Check Out all of that shopping.
 
Millions headed to the malls and to their computers to shop this past weekend, but what does it mean for the retailers who had to cut prices to entice consumers?

While sales rose, industry watchers still expect 2008 will be the weakest holiday sales season in years.  Retailers drastically slashed prices — there were plenty of buy one, get one 50% off deals and other sales — which is likely to cut into profitability.

The National Retail Federation’s survey found shoppers spent an average of 7.2 percent more per person at nearly $373 from Thursday through Sunday. Total spending was $41 billion.  Still, the NRF appears to be keeping a cautious tone.

“We take all of this into context and realize Black Friday is not going to save the holiday season,” NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis said. “Regardless of retail sales, retail profits are another matter. Everything they sold was at a razor-thin margin.”

Meanwhile, in a survey conducted by America’s Research Group, 38 percent of respondents said they spent less last weekend than a year ago, while 18.9 percent said they spent more. 
  
At least one team of analysts does not think the weekend’s sales bode well for Best Buy, which faces deep discounts from giant rival Wal-Mart and going out of business sales from smaller rival Circuit City.

“We do not believe that a strong opening weekend in retail means a strong holiday season for retail,” Pali Research’s Stacey Widlitz and Brandon Ross said in a research note on Monday. 

They say they saw several people walk out of Best Buy this weekend without bags.

“In the end, it is hard to predict an entire holiday season based on one weekend of data points and some store checks.  However, the data and stores we have seen do not change our thesis that 2008 will be a rough holiday season for (Best Buy).  We would continue to avoid the stock, even at historically cheap levels,” they wrote.

While promotions may have cost retailers on their margins, not offering such deals may have kept shoppers away.  Credit Suisse’s team said it believes that “the lack of promotions at Victoria’s Secret” could hurt results at Limited Brands.

As far as online sales go, U.S. visits to retailers’ web sites were down on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Saturday, according to Hitwise.  And who fared best this past weekend?  Walmart.com was the most popular retail site on Thanksgiving, while Amazon.com won the prize on Friday, Hitwise said.

Now we turn our attention to Cyber Monday.  Where are you shopping online? 

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