U.S. holiday shopping strengthens as Americans regain confidence

U.S. holiday shopping strengthens as Americans regain confidence

The U.S. holiday shopping season sales may  be stronger than expected as the National Retail Foundation today upgraded its estimate of American consumer spending from 2.3 percent this year to 3.3 percent. Retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, still expect many American shoppers to flock to stores in the days ahead for last-minute Christmas shopping. They are counting on the latest data from the NRF, who says that up to 16.9 percent of Americans have yet to start Christmas shopping by last week. Only 10.1 percent of consumers said they had completed all of their purchases for the holidays. "Consumers have not been suffering from a lack of spending power. They've just been missing the confidence to use it," NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said. "With noticeable improvement in key economic indicators, combined with great deals on merchandise, consumers have certainly shown they shouldn't be counted out this holiday season."

Other U.S. holiday shopping data for 2010 have surpassed last year's performance. According to comScore, online sales jumped 12 percent this year compared to last year. The tracking company said Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Free Shipping Day deals by retailers were responsible for the boost in sales. Among the hit items this U.S. holiday shopping season are e-readers, Apple iPads, e-readers, and laptops. Americans spent 25 percent more on electronic gadgets this year than in 2009. Brisk sales of flat television sets led a revenue surge of 22 percent in the consumer electronics segment. Among other consumer favorites are books, magazines, toys, video games and software.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Tuesday December 21 2010, 1:51 AM EST. Ref: LA Times. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0