Saturday, a lot of shoppers came back to malls searching for doorbuster deals, next year's Christmas gifts and, for most, gifts for themselves.

Recognizing shoppers would likely spend less this holiday season, vendors carefully managed inventory this Christmas. That resulted in some store shelves to be practically empty December 26.

Retailers made a push to woo gift-card-toting shoppers by cutting prices and offering doorbuster deals often reserved for the day after Thanksgiving.

According to ShopperTrak research, the week after Christmas is big business for retailers, making up 15% of sales the previous year.

Thanks to stroke of luck, retailers had a whole weekend to allure customers immediately after Christmas. That meant many stores were offering expanded hours Saturday and extra deals hoping crowds of gift-card-toting shoppers would snap up goods.

Retailers received a much-needed last-minute sales surge in the final days before December, 25, fueled by shoppers who delayed buying, waited for bigger discounts that never came or were slowed by last weekend's big East Coast snowstorm.
Nevertheless, now they're counting on the days after Christmas cause the rise of overall holiday sales in a season that looks like it's modestly better than last year's disaster.

But, anyway the holiday season picture won't be fully unveiled until merchants report December sales January 7. But most expect merchants' fourth-quarter profits should be intact because they didn't press the panic button.

ShopperTrak is sticking to its forecast for a 1.6% gain, compared to a 5.9% drop a year ago.

As for the National Retail Federation expectations, total retail sales will slip by 1%, though some experts consider that might be a bit too cautious. A year ago, they fell 3.4% by the trade group's calculations.