Christmas sales in the US increased 8.5% from last year as consumers spent more money on clothing, jewelry and electronics, a report from Mastercard SpendingPulse showed.
According to the firm, purchases increased across the board, both in stores and online, during the defined holiday season from November 1 to December 24. Consumers started looking for gifts earlier than usual.
By category, clothing rose 47%, jewelry 32% and electronics 16% compared to 2020.
Online sales increased 11% from a year earlier, while department stores posted an increase of 21 percent.
After the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, some consumers stayed home and switched their spending to e-commerce, but sales remained strong.
“I feel great about how the season unfolded,” said Steve Sadove, Senior Advisor at Mastercard and former CEO of Saks Inc.
“When people feel a little uncomfortable they will see a bit of recovery online and a bit of a slowdown in store,” he said.
A bigger picture will be revealed next month when the National Federation of Retailers, the nation’s largest retail group, releases its combined two-month results in mid-January.
Overall, analysts are expecting a strong holiday season, fueled by early shopping that began in October as consumers wanted to anticipate a possible shortage of products on the shelves.
Consumers were also determined to celebrate the holidays despite the risks of the pandemic and the new Omicron strain.
Still, November saw a slowdown in retail sales, partly due to anticipated purchases.
Businesses are optimistic
The National Retailers Federation (NRF) said in early December that holiday sales were on track to beat their forecasts.
Holiday sales jumped 8.2% in 2020 as shoppers, locked in during the early part of the pandemic, splurged on pajamas and household items, mostly online.
The group expects online sales and other out-of-store sales that are included in the total to increase between 11% and 15 percent. The numbers exclude car dealerships, gas stations, and restaurants. Holiday sales have averaged 4.4% gains over the past five years, according to the group.
The latest update to the NRF was released in early December, just before Ómicron became a major threat in the US and began disrupting businesses, from Broadway theaters to restaurants.
Overall store traffic has not plummeted, although the effects of the virus are being felt in some stores reporting drops in large city locations.
For the week ending Dec. 18, in-store traffic was up nearly 20% from a year earlier, although it was down 23% from the same week in pre-2019, according to Sensormatic Solutions.
Peter McCall, Sensormatic’s senior manager of retail consulting, noted that shoppers still go to retail stores, but now prefer outdoor malls.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx