NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - US retail sales during Thanksgiving weekend totaled $45 billion as more shoppers scooped up discounted jewelry and toys, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The average shopper spent $365.34 over the holiday weekend, a 6.4 percent rise from last year, the Washington-based trade group said in statement yesterday, citing a survey conducted by BIGresearch. The percentage of shoppers buying jewellery climbed to 14.3 percent from 11.7 percent a year ago.

More people are scouring for deals earlier, with the number of customers shopping on Thanksgiving Day more than doubling over the past five years, the NRF said. Retailers are wooing customers to make the most of their biggest shopping period, with promotions like slow-cookers for $7.88 at JC Penney Co. to $5 Barbies at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Black Friday is so named because many retailers become profitable that day. Analysts’ estimates for holiday sales vary from little changed to increases of as much as 4.5 percent. The NRF predicts a gain of 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion after an uptick of 0.4 percent last year and a 3.9 percent drop in 2008.

Those forecasts coincided with a resurgence in US consumer spending this year as the economy added jobs. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of US gross domestic product, increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the latest quarter, according to the Commerce Department. That was the fastest since the final three months of 2006.

Same-store sales, a key indicator because new and closed locations are excluded, rose for 14 straight months through October. Same-store sales for November and December may advance as much as 3.5 percent, the largest increase since 2006, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.