A blizzard in the Northeast postponed about $1 billion in holiday retail sales by keeping shoppers out of stores in the days after Christmas, according to mall-traffic tracker ShopperTrak.

The snowstorm shut roads and canceled flights in New York City, while creating havoc across much of the East Coast—where shopper traffic was 11.2% below ShopperTrak's expectations for Dec. 26 and off 13.9% Dec. 27, Reuters reported.

ShopperTrak said sales for the entire November and December period are on track to be up 4%, helped by strong sales in November and Dec. 23—a particularly heavy day for pre-Christmas shopping.

The firm expects consumers who stayed home because of the snowstorm to venture out and shop more in the coming days. Other analysts agreed that the blizzard should only put a small dent into holiday season, Reuters reported. In mid-December, ShopperTrak raised its holiday-season growth outlook to an increase of 4% from the 3.2% previously projected, with traffic seen increasing 1.8%.

Most analysts and research firms are expecting holiday retail sales to improve from 2009's sales. The National Retail Federation (NRF) sees holiday sales up 3.3%, compared with a 0.4% last year and a 3.9% decline in 2008 due to the financial crisis. NRF forecasts sales will top $451 billion nationwide this holiday season, close to equaling or exceeding 2007's record year.

Online sales were up 13% to a record $30.8 billion for the Nov. 1 to Dec. 26 holiday period, data company comScore said. MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks retail purchases, including cash, debit and credit cards, showed sales from Nov. 5 through Dec. 24 rose 5.5% compared to last year, Bloomberg News reported. MasterCard Advisor projected this season to be the best in five years.

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