US shoppers went to stores earlier this Thanksgiving weekend and bought online more than in years past, giving retailers a strong start to the holiday shopping season, data has showed.

The more successful retailers, analysts said, were companies such as Wal-Mart Stores and Macy’s, which did better at combining physical stores with their online and mobile channels into a seamless shopping experience.

“The more you can make a shopper shop multiple channels, they are at least twice as likely to be a loyal shopper and spend tons of money,” Patty Edwards, chief investment officer at investment firm Trutina Financial, said.

But shoppers also tried to stay disciplined during the onslaught of deals over the so-called “Black Friday” weekend, named for the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally kicks off the November-December holiday shopping season.

A total of 52% of Black Friday shoppers that answered a Reuters/Ipsos poll said they stayed on budget and 34% said they spent less than planned. Only 14% said they went over budget.

Of the 404 in the poll that shopped on Black Friday, 33% said the deals they found were better than last year and 39% found them to be the same, while 15% said the deals were worse.

While holiday shopping appeared to be off to a good start, analysts cautioned against reading too much into one weekend’s numbers. Retailers have to sustain the initial burst through the November-December holiday season, which can account for a third of annual sales and 40 to 50% of profits for the year.

The impact on the US economy is also sizeable as consumer spending accounts for about 70% of all economic activity. US employment has undergone a slow but steady recovery, but concerns remain about the “fiscal cliff” that threatens to produce tax increases and automatic spending cuts in January.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted over the weekend, 59% of people who shopped on Friday said they had completed less than a quarter or none of their holiday-season shopping that day.

Total spending for the long weekend rose to $59.1bn, up 12.8% from last year, according to a survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF). An estimated 139.4mn adults visited US stores and websites from Thanksgiving through Sunday, up 6.4% from last year, the survey, conducted for the industry trade group by BIGinsight, said.

Staying open on Thanksgiving became more widespread this year as retailers such as Target, Sears Holdings Corp and Toys R Us joined in, while others including Wal-Mart and Gap either extended their operating hours or had more stores doing business.

Traditionally, stores had waited until Black Friday to make their big push.

In the latest sign of the growing importance of Internet-based retailing, comScore Inc said Black Friday online sales topped $1bn for the first time, while IBM said online sales rose 16.9% year-over-year on Saturday.

Amazon.com was the most-visited retail website on Black Friday — the point when retailers in the past would turn a profit for the year — and it posted the highest year-over-year visitor growth rate among the top five retailers.

Wal-Mart’s website was second, followed by sites run by Best Buy, Target and Apple, comScore said.

“Wal-Mart gets the most-improved prize. They invested and delivered in every channel — stores (opening early), website (very competitive deals, many delivery options), and mobile (bringing it all together for customers by making it easier),” said Fiona Dias, an executive at e-commerce company ShopRunner, which is part owned by eBay.

Analysts said while some of the larger retailers such as Wal-Mart saw strong traffic through the weekend, traffic appeared to ebb at some smaller specialty retailers by Saturday.

One was Abercrombie & Fitch, where it looked like traffic “really slowed off on Friday afternoon and Saturday”, Ken Perkins, president of data-monitoring firm Retail Metrics, said.

Several analysts criticised JC Penney’s decision not to open until Friday morning, losing shoppers to competitors like Target and Macy’s that opened hours earlier.

“They blew it,” Edwards said.

There are two extra days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year and one more full weekend, so the opportunity for a lull between the holidays is greater.

“A big Black Friday, it’s hard to read too much into that for the rest of the season,” Scott Tuhy, vice-president at Moody’s Investors Service, said.

Retailers may have to discount more than they want sooner to help spur more shopping, which could cut into margins, Liz Ebert, retail lead at consulting firm KPMG, said.

The National Retail Federation still expects sales in November and December to rise 4.1% this year, below last year’s 5.6% increase.