CHICAGO - January 9, 2008 - ShopperTrak RCT Corporation's National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE) today reported that despite the eulogy written for the retail industry by most prognosticators, retail sales for the November – December 2007 holiday season increased a better-than-expected 4.5 percent as compared to last year, surpassing the company’s 3.6 percent holiday season forecast.

While high gasoline prices and other economic pressures remained prevalent, the 2007 holiday retail season exceeded expectations. Black Friday once again led the way with $10.3 billion spent, followed closely by Super Saturday’s (December 22 or the last Saturday before Christmas) $9.36 billion performance – marking the third consecutive year Black Friday has been the number one performing retail sales day. Saturday (December 15), Friday (December 21), and Sunday (December 23) rounded out the top five retail sales days of 2007.

Individually, monthly sales for December versus 2006 rose 3.5 percent while November increased a steady 6.0 percent.

As anticipated, ShopperTrak’s Retail Traffic Index (SRTI) reported total U.S. foot traffic for the 2007 holiday season slipped 2.7 percent as compared to 2006, just falling outside of ShopperTrak’s predicted 2.5 percent decline. This holiday traffic slide mirrors the trend seen throughout 2007 of consumers visiting retail locations less but spending more on each visit. On a monthly basis, December traffic fell 4.7 percent while November posted a 5.8 percent rise as compared to the same period in 2006.

“The holiday 2007 retail sales performance overwhelmingly proves the U.S. consumer is resilient,” noted Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “Based on stagnant traffic and various economic concerns retailers were understandably a bit nervous heading into the season, but the strength of Black Friday weekend added to the shopping surge experienced on Super Saturday helped sales exceed our expectations.”

On a weekly comparison, sales and traffic for the week ending January 5, 2008 rose a healthy 15.5 and 10.1 percent respectively as compared to last year, reflecting the continued strength of gift-card redemptions and post-holiday sales. Expectedly, week-over-week sales and traffic fell a sharp 30.2 percent and 29.9 percent as compared to the previous week ending December 29 as the holiday season continues winding down.

Developed by ShopperTrak, the NRSE provides a nationwide benchmark of retail sales. It is derived from the U.S. Commerce Department's GAFO (general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby, books and other related store sales) statistic, as well as ShopperTrak's proprietary industry intelligence on shopper traffic and sales statistics. This gives retailers, investors and policy makers the most accurate and timely information on consumer trends available today.

ShopperTrak's SRTI is generated from a carefully drawn sample of more than 50,000 retail and enclosed mall locations throughout the United States. The product is a set of six calculated indices for select segments of the retail industry that compare current week mall or store traffic to a baseline traffic figure from a fixed week on the NRF calendar. The SRTI is priced by individual segment.

A privately held entity, ShopperTrak leverages 20 years of retail expertise to be the industry's authority for information and analysis of shopper traffic in retail environments. ShopperTrak's cutting-edge shopper tracking products and indices offer retail intelligence solutions that enable companies to better understand retail trends and the impact of store and staff performance on company revenues. With more than 50,000 units installed in the world's best known retail outlets and malls, the company's solutions also provide a proven means for retailers to gauge labor efficiencies, advertising and marketing efforts, store design and remodeling programs, merchandise changes, associate training programs, and other budget-intensive strategic initiatives. For more information visit http://www.shoppertrak.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The data contained within this news release is the property of ShopperTrak RCT Corporation and may be reprinted, published or broadcast, provided proper credit is given to the National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE) and ShopperTrak RCT Corporation as the supplier of the information. Please contact Aaron Martin at 312-943-9100 if you have any questions concerning the use of this data.