Holiday shopping season disappointing for retailers

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Millions of shoppers frequented malls this holiday shopping season, but experts say that these shoppers didn't do much shopping at all, and retailers are now counting on the post-Christmas shopping rush.

Retailers had expected 2012 to be a successful season after last year, when retail sales went up by 4-5%. Holiday spending, however, stopped shortly after Black Friday. Analysts say that bad weather, tragedies like the Newtown school shooting, and uncertainty about the economy discouraged consumers from going all-out with their gift-buying.

Here in western Massachusetts, many shoppers told 22News that they are feeling the effects of the looming “fiscal cliff” and the possible tax hike.

“I think people are struggling, and even when I shopped, I found there were people in the mall not carrying a lot of bundles. More like just walking around. That kind of tells you too people aren't buying,” Joanne McDiarmid of Palmer said.

Many people said that unlike last year, they came up with a plan for shopping this year. They made a list of gifts they definitely need to buy, looked for discounts, and stuck to their budget.