Black Friday 2014: Thanksgiving weekend suffers as shoppers respond to spread out deals (photos/video)

Syracuse, N.Y. — Black Friday has gone from a one-day crush of sales to a seemingly endless series of deals and promotions that lasts weeks.

Shoppers have taken note and it's showing in sales and traffic numbers.

Sales over the Thanksgiving weekend totaled $50.9 billion, down 11 percent from 2013, according to estimates from the National Retail Federation, the industry's major trade group. Customer traffic over the weekend dipped 5.2 percent.

The average shopper spent $380.95 over the weekend, down 6.4 percent from 2013, according to NRF.

Shopper traffic on Black Friday itself fell 5.6 percent, but rose more than 27 percent on Thanksgiving Day, according to retail analysis firm ShopperTrak. Most big-name retailers now open on Thursday and that trend is clearly eating into Black Friday crowds, ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said in a news release.

ShopperTrak is projecting combined sales for Thanksgiving and Black Friday of $12.29 billion, a decrease of 0.5 percent from 2013.

Sales and customer traffic over the holiday weekend fell last year as well.

NRF is still projecting an increase of 4.1 percent in total holiday sales. Total holiday sales rose 3.1 percent in 2013.

The idea that shoppers need to wait for a single day to get the best deals is largely a thing of the past at this point, retail experts say. Stores run sales and promotions throughout the holiday season, both before and after Black Friday itself.

Amazon began pushing its Black Friday deals in early November. Wal-Mart stretched Black Friday deals across five days.

Consumers have responded and so Black Friday itself has lost some of its luster, one retail analyst told the New York Times.

But a dip over the Thanksgiving weekend doesn't necessarily mean a lost season for retailers, ShopperTrak's Martin said. Some of the busiest shopping days of the holidays are still ahead.

"There is a significant amount of energy left in the consumer with seven of the top 10 sales days of the year left to come, including [the Saturday before Christmas], which is projected to be the number one spending day of the year," Martin said.

More than 126 million people are expected to shop online today for Cyber Monday, according to NRF's projections. That's down 3.6 percent from 2013.

Related: Heading to Destiny USA for your holiday shopping? Check out our guide to the mall with store hours, parking tips, dining info and more.

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