“Not surprisingly, Black Friday’s sales came in so strong that the pace was clearly not sustainable. The sectors have settled into some clear winners as well as some under performers. We are watching closely to see what the last 10 days bring,” noted Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors.

SpendingPulse analyzed the Electronics, Specialty (Apparel), eCommerce and Luxury sectors. Here are the highlights:

Regional performance:

The Mid-West portions of the country were negatively impacted by disruptive weather that may have prevented shoppers from reaching stores in early December. The ice storm in the North Central portion of the county contributed to a -0.4% decline in specialty retail sales for that region compared to the first half of the 2006 season. We will have to watch for disruptive weather in key areas especially on Thursdays-Saturdays as we come down the stretch run of the season.

Apparel

Overall specialty apparel was up 0.5%. Women’s apparel was down 5.7% while men’s apparel was up 4.5%

For the first 20 days of the holiday shopping season, specialty retailers showed a 1.1% decrease in sales over the same period in 2006. Poor weekend weather, first in the Mid-Atlantic and then in the Central portion of the country cooled a hot start to the season. Sales throughout the first weekend of the season were up 5.7%.

Shopping volumes were most affected by the weather (down 2.6%) but strong transaction pricing (+1.5%) muted the decline.

Electronics

Electronics sales opened the season with a sales growth surge on Black Friday, but sales growth has slowed down in the first two weeks of December. In the 20 days following Thanksgiving, consumer spending on electronics grew by 5.8% over the same period a year ago. This pace is a pronounced slowdown from the 15% growth the sector saw during the weekend following Black Friday.

eCommerce

eCommerce sales experienced extraordinary growth (+29.8%) over the first 20 days of the season. Much of the increase can be attributed to growth in high-end items, with the average ticket price up 10% from 2006.

Luxury

Total Luxury goods sales stumbled in December, helping shrink sales in the 20 days following Thanksgiving by -3.7% from the same period a year ago. However, some of the downturn is due to seasonal cycles. One key factor is that luxury goods are dominated by jewelry sales. These experience a holiday rush only in the last two weeks of the season. Indeed, extracting jewelry from the equation, luxury goods sales are actually up by 10.8% year-to-year so far this holiday season.

Influence of Gasoline Prices on Overall Spending

The average cost of a gallon of gasoline is up by about 32% over the same period in 2006. Notes Michael McNamara, “Our spending data suggests that high gas prices and oil costs have had an impact on discretionary spending.”