In a bid to lure consumers back to the stores for post-holiday shopping, the nation's retailers are set to step up discounting on Friday in hopes of recouping lost sales. But the season is winding up to be only modestly better than a year ago.

Macy's is offering discounts of up to 50 percent to 75 percent on many items throughout the store on Friday, while AnnTaylor Stores Corp. is featuring reductions of up to 50 percent.

But C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C., said post-holiday sales will only help stores that are close to meeting their goals.

''If they're far behind, you can't have one week making up for the rest of the season,'' he said.

This holiday season, luxury stores such as Neiman Marcus have enjoyed robust sales, while mid-priced department stores have fared the worst. Even discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have struggled with muted sales gains, as low-income consumers still haven't benefited from the economic recovery.

Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research at the International Council of Shopping Centers, said that same-store sales growth for the combined November-December period is currently tracking a little bit below his reduced 4 percent forecast.

Still, even if holiday same-store sales come in a bit below Niemira's trimmed projections, he said it would still be the biggest gain since 1999, when his tally posted a 5.4 percent increase.

Same-store sales - or sales at stores opened at least a year - are considered the best indicator of a retailer's health.

Clearly, the week after Christmas has become increasingly important. A year ago, that period accounted for 11.8 percent of holiday sales, up from 10.6 percent in 2001. Some stores are counting on the period to make up for an even bigger share, betting on consumers returning to the malls to redeem their gift cards and buy more merchandise.

Typically, stores don't record gift card sales until consumers redeem the value of the card. Gift cards are expected to account for about 8 percent of total holiday sales this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

But Beemer said stores shouldn't bet on consumers redeeming cards immediately.

According to a recent America's Research Group survey, almost 40 percent of about 800 consumers polled said they would redeem their cards in January, while 38.4 percent plan to redeem the cards immediately. Close to 22 percent said that they plan to use their cards sometime next year.

That's a big change from years past, when more than 55 percent polled said they would immediately use them.

''I think a lot of people are going to wait to see how big the sales are,'' Beemer said.