Holiday Season Sales Up 4% to Highest Level Since 2011

(IDEX Online News) – Holiday season retail sales reached their highest level since 2011, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF, the world’s largest retail trade association, said December retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 4.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

The significant drop in gasoline prices in December 2014 brought down much of the month-to-month growth.

Total holiday retail sales (November-December) rose 4 percent to $616.1 billion, which was in line with NRF’s projected forecast of 4.1 percent growth. In addition, non-store holiday sales, which is an indicator of online and ecommerce sales, grew 6.8 percent to $101.9 billion.

“Today’s holiday retail sales results are welcome news for our industry and for our economy. There is every reason to believe that we have moved well beyond the days of consumer pessimism and that the trajectory for retailers continues to point up,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay.

“Preliminary holiday results affirm our initial belief that consumers going into the holiday season had the spending power necessary to give retail the shot in the arm it needed," said NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz.

"While December’s figures are disappointing, holiday sales in 2014 are the best we've seen since 2011. We remain positive about the future and expect to see consumers continue to benefit from the extra income gained from an improved job market and the dramatic fall in gas prices. It is important to recognize that December is a very difficult month to adjust for seasonal forces because of holiday spending and this could explain in part this month’s volatility."

The US Commerce Department, which does include gasoline in its figures, said that December retail sales decreased 0.9 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 3.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year.