Retailers See Black This Holiday Season
The nation’s stores are celebrating the spirit of giving, as retail sales rose by 3.6 percent this holiday season compared to last year, according to initial data from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse. Online sales and last-minute electronics purchases helped boost sales this year.
Online sales rose 18 percent from Nov. 27 to Dec. 24 this year. Consumers seem more comfortable doing last-minute shopping in order to get the biggest bargains, the numbers suggests. A jump in purchases the week before Christmas helped electronics sales increase about 6 percent this year, according to Bloomberg news.
SpendingPulse measures retail sales across all payment forms, including cash and check. The firm did not disclose dollar spending totals.
The good news came despite a major snow storm on the East Coast the final weekend before Christmas that kept most shoppers home. Sales predictions were also less than rosy, with the National Retail Federation predicting a 1 percent decline in U.S. spending for the season, said Bloomberg.