Last month I told you that holiday sales for the Thanksgiving shopping weekend exceeded expectations. And while that was true, overall, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that after a surge of early holiday shopping, sales fell slightly in November and December.
That doesn’t mean overall season revenues were down, just that the increase wasn’t as large as first expected. ChainStoreAge reported that according to the NRF:
- Retail sales from November 1st through December 31st grew 5.3% over 2021, reaching $936.3 billion.
- Retail holiday sales were weaker than industry analysts and experts expected as consumers struggled with inflation and higher interest rates.
But the good news was that online and other non-store sales rose 9.5%.
RetailDive reported on Global Data’s numbers showing holiday-related spending increased rose 6.7%, and online sales grew 7.4% compared to 2021.
However, they explain that inflation was a major factor in that growth. Thanksgiving volumes only rose 0.2%, Black Friday and Cyber Week volumes dipped by 1.1%, while Christmas and other holiday season volume declined by 1.6%.
Hopefully, sales will pick up in the 1st-quarter of 2023.
Santa hats stock image by New Africa/Shutterstock