FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2011 file photo, Rhonda Cochran, left, and Tiffany Strickland load bags of Black Friday deals into a car at Bel Air Mall in Mobile, Ala. Retailers are reporting strong sales gains in November, boosted by a discount-fueled spending binge for the start of the holiday shopping season last weekend. Now, the challenge is to keep shoppers spending throughout the most important selling period of the year. (AP Photo/Mobile Press-Register, Mike Kittrell) MAGS OUT; NO SALES
FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2011 file photo, Rhonda Cochran, left, and Tiffany Strickland load bags of Black Friday deals into a car at Bel Air Mall in Mobile, Ala. Retailers are reporting strong sales gains in November, boosted by a discount-fueled spending binge for the start of the holiday shopping season last weekend. Now, the challenge is to keep shoppers spending throughout the most important selling period of the year. (AP Photo/Mobile Press-Register, Mike Kittrell) MAGS OUT; NO SALES
FILE - In this Nov. 25, 2011, Iris Killingsworth hands off Black Friday purchases to her mother, Bobbie James, at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss. Retailers are reporting strong sales gains in November, boosted by a discount-fueled spending binge for the start of the holiday shopping season last weekend. Now, the challenge is to keep shoppers spending throughout the most important selling period of the year. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES
NEW YORK (AP) ? Oh what a difference a weekend can make.
Shoppers taking advantage of big discounts and earlier store hours during the start of the holiday shopping season last weekend helped boost retailers' revenue for the entire month of November.
Retailers from Macy's to Costco on Thursday reported monthly revenue at stores open at least a year ? an indicator of a merchant's health ? that beat Wall Street estimates. The overall tally for the 21 retailers that reported revenue for November rose 3.2 percent, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
November results offer an important benchmark for retailers and economists. During the holiday shopping season, merchants can make up to 40 percent of their revenue. The period that runs from November through December also gives valuable insights into what it takes to get Americans to spend in the weak economy.
"Clearly, consumers are focused on those bargains," said ICSC chief economist Mike Niemira. "It's a bit tougher to get shoppers to buy from a year ago."
November's results were boosted by the four-day weekend start on Thanksgiving Day, the traditional kickoff the shopping season. Americans spent $52.4 billion over the weekend, the highest total ever recorded during that time, according to the National Retail Federation.
While the figures released Thursday point to a solid start to the shopping season, they represent only a small slice of the industry. Dollar stores, home-improvement chains like Best Buy, consumer electronics stores like Home Depot and even Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, don't report monthly revenue.
Still, retailers can glean a lot from the numbers.
For instance, well-heeled shoppers continue to be resilient in the weak economy.
Luxury chain Saks Inc., which operates Saks Fifth Avenue, fared well, reporting a 9.3 percent increase. That's better than the 6.1 percent increase analysts had expected.
Macy's, which operates the Macy's and upscale Bloomingdale's department store chains, also posted a 4.8 percent gain, above the 3.9 percent increase that Wall Street analysts had expected. The company's Macy's chain, which was among the retailers who opened at midnight on Thanksgiving evening, benefited from the earlier opening.
"A strong Black Friday punctuated our very positive sales performance throughout November," said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy's chairman, president and chief executive in a statement.
But not every retailer had a strong showing in November. Those targeting lower and middle-income shoppers an uphill battled to get shoppers to spend.
"The lower-income shoppers are postponing their purchases or were cherry picking the deals," said Walter Loeb, a New York-based independent retail consultant.
Target posted a 1.8 percent increase, below the 2.8 percent gain that Wall Street analysts had expected. The discounter blamed the decline on lackluster toy sales.
Additionally, the company told analysts in November that it was also hurt by rival Wal-Mart's holiday layaway program that allows customers to pay-as-they go for gifts, hurt toy sales. Wal-Mart also has been heavily pushing low prices in its ad campaign, which likely hurt Target.
J.C. Penney, which targets middle-income shoppers, also reported disappointing results. The retailer said its decision not to open at midnight on Thanksgiving evening hurt revenue on the day after the holiday, which set the tone for the remainder of the weekend.
J.C. Penney reported a 2.0 percent sales drop, worse than the 1.8 percent decline that analysts had expected.
"Sales remained soft in-store throughout the holiday weekend," the company said in statement.
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