WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects retail sales in the holiday months of November and December to increase between 3.8% and 4.2% from last year’s level. Holiday sales of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion would represent a slight improvement over the five-year average of a 3.7% increase, NRF said early this month.
The upcoming holiday season is projected to be a good one for the retail industry. But much of the sales growth will be a result of additional traffic on retailers’ websites rather than in their stores. Online spending during the upcoming holiday shopping season is expected to grow 14.8%, to $124.1 billion, according to Adobe
NEW YORK — As the holiday shopping season gets under way, the latest forecasts suggest that consumer spending will be up this year. But retailers are taking no chances, offering special deals and free shipping to get customers to shop their stores or websites. Walmart announced this month that it is expanding its product assortment
The recent holiday season turned out to be a pretty merry one for retailers, preliminary figures suggest. And while consumers are shifting more of their shopping to online venues, they also continue to flock to brick-and-mortar stores, and even once again proved willing to fight the crowds to take advantage of Black Friday deals. That
The holiday selling season remains, just weeks before it kicks off, a mystery, at least in terms of what’s going to happen. Even now, Christmas merchandise is in the stores, awaiting set-up. Holiday promotions have long since been planned, and advertising is locked in. All that waits is for the customer to choose her preferences.