Perhaps lower gas prices and warm weather out East had positive impacts on Holiday sales after all. Citing strong online sales and demand for furniture and women’s apparel, MasterCard said U.S. retail sales grew by a “solid” 7.9 percent. U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles and gas, had grown 5.5 percent in the period between Black Friday and Christmas Eve last year.
Online sales grew 20 percent in the holiday season this year, said MasterCard Advisors.
“The double-digit growth in furniture sales … shows that consumers are willing and able to splurge on big ticket items,” Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of Market Insights at MasterCard Advisors, said in the report.
A delay in the onset of cold weather pushed back apparel buying this fall, so there was pent up demand that played out after Black Friday, she said.
Quinlan also said consumers were spending the money they were saving from lower gas prices.
The National Retail Federation had forecast a 3.7 percent rise in store and online sales in November and December this year, with online sales expected to rise 6-8 percent. NRF has not released its take on Holiday sales, nor has the U.S. Commerce Dept.
