NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Retailers hoping to close out the holidays with a last-minute sales windfall lured shoppers with plenty of post-Christmas discounts over the weekend.

The final tally on the critical November-December shopping period won't be out until early January, but at least one early report suggested that merchants will have something to cheer about when it's all over.

Total holiday sales rose 6.5 percent year-over-year, according to a report Monday from MasterCard Advisors, the professional services unit of MasterCard International. Total retail sales last year rose a paltry 2.2 percent.

"The increase was stronger than expected, and we were impressed with the rebound in spending especially after the snowstorms in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions," said Michael McNamara, director of research products with MasterCard Advisors.

MasterCard's holiday sales data is based on total credit card transactions across its payment networks.

Anecdotal information collected on the day and weekend after Christmas from malls around the country indicated that shoppers took their time to look for who had the bigger-and better-deals.

Karen MacDonald, spokeswoman for the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based mall operator Taubman Centers (TCO: Research, Estimates), told CNN/Money via e-mail that the post-Christmas business last Friday started out a little later in the day than the average Dec. 26, but that mall traffic built up later in the day.

"Crowds were much bigger than usual and most people appeared to be buying," MacDonald said. "Gift returns appeared to be fewer this year."

The Beverly Center Mall in Los Angeles said last Friday was the busiest day of the holiday shopping season.

"The parking lot filled to capacity earlier than any day this year and it remained that way until 7 p.m. Winter apparel and gift certificates were the best-selling items," MacDonald quoted a mall spokeswoman as saying.

Meanwhile, the Stamford Town Center Mall in Stamford, Conn., reported fewer returns Friday as most shoppers instead looked to buy merchandise that was up to 75 percent off.

General Growth Properties (GGP: Research, Estimates), the Chicago-based No. 2 mall operator with 170 malls, said traffic at its malls surveyed around the country on the day and weekend after Christmas was "significantly heavier than last year."

"Our research showed that a significant amount of people were planning to shop later in the season," said David Keating, spokesman for General Growth Properties, in a statement. "That attributed to continued increase in sales through Christmas and the weekend after."

"Apparel retailers were showing strong double-digit increases over last year. Jewelry retailers also showed strong sales," Keating said.

"January is expected to do well due to the strong sales of gift cards and promotions."

Industry watchers said retailers have been promoting gift cards aggressively in a bidto spur buying in the key post-holiday period. But retailers have to wait until the cards are redeemed before they can log the transaction as revenue.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the industry's largest trade group, gift card sales this year are expected to reach $17.2 billion, or about 8 percent of all holiday sales.