An all-time high of 226 million Americans flocked to stores and websites over the Black Friday holiday weekend, spending an estimated 52.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Along with these record-breaking statistics, the National Retail Federation reported that shoppers kicked off the holiday season by spending an average of 398.62 U.S. dollars on special deals and store promotions that began late Thanksgiving night.

Chicago-based ShopperTrak, which provides research on retail and mall shoppers, calculated that 2011 Black Friday single-day retail sales were up 6.6 percent from last year, making it the highest dollar amount ever spent during the day.

For many in the retail industry, the record amount is an encouraging sign in a difficult economy, but ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin cautioned that holiday sales overall must be considered, not just a single day's figures.

"This is the largest year-over-year gain in ShopperTrak's National Retail Sales Estimate for Black Friday since the 8.3 percent increase we saw between 2007 and 2006," Martin said regarding the sales boom.

"Still, it's just one day. It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season," he said.

Xinhua