Consumers Show a Pulse This Holiday Season
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Consumers spent a little more this holiday season despite the continuing weakness of the economy, fewer discounts and lower inventories according to post-Christmas data.
Spending by consumers in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve was up 3.6 percent year over year excluding the sales of automobiles and gas, according to MasterCard Inc.'s (NYSE: MA) SpendingPulse unit. Without the extra day during the period sales were still up 1 percent.
During the same period last year retail sales fell 3.4 percent as consumers were bracing for the worst still to come.
Shoppers turned to online retailers more this year with Internet sales up 18 percent during the holiday season helped by a severe snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast on the final weekend before Christmas.
"People were more comfortable doing last-minute shopping online, especially with the bad weather," SpendingPulse director of economic research, Kamalesh Rao said.
Sales are expected to receive another boost in the final week of the year as consumers head back to the malls to cash in on discounts on remaining inventories and redeem gift card that are estimated to have been sold in higher volume over last year. Same-stores sales of gift cards are expected to rise by 1.9 percent.
Sectors that shined during the season included electronics and jewelry, up 5.9 percent and 5.6 percent respectively. Electronic sales were helped by the demand for flat-panel TVs, smartphones, cameras and video games.
Overall apparel and luxury item sales were nearly flat year-over-year, while department store sales were down 2.3 percent. Luxury item sales fell 20 percent last year.
Analysts expect that retailers will have fewer inventories to clear following the holiday season allowing them to put out new apparel manufactured at lower costs that can be discounted immediately not hurting margins.
More will be known of how individual stores did during the season when companies begin reporting December sales on January 7.
Spending by consumers in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve was up 3.6 percent year over year excluding the sales of automobiles and gas, according to MasterCard Inc.'s (NYSE: MA) SpendingPulse unit. Without the extra day during the period sales were still up 1 percent.
During the same period last year retail sales fell 3.4 percent as consumers were bracing for the worst still to come.
Shoppers turned to online retailers more this year with Internet sales up 18 percent during the holiday season helped by a severe snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast on the final weekend before Christmas.
"People were more comfortable doing last-minute shopping online, especially with the bad weather," SpendingPulse director of economic research, Kamalesh Rao said.
Sales are expected to receive another boost in the final week of the year as consumers head back to the malls to cash in on discounts on remaining inventories and redeem gift card that are estimated to have been sold in higher volume over last year. Same-stores sales of gift cards are expected to rise by 1.9 percent.
Sectors that shined during the season included electronics and jewelry, up 5.9 percent and 5.6 percent respectively. Electronic sales were helped by the demand for flat-panel TVs, smartphones, cameras and video games.
Overall apparel and luxury item sales were nearly flat year-over-year, while department store sales were down 2.3 percent. Luxury item sales fell 20 percent last year.
Analysts expect that retailers will have fewer inventories to clear following the holiday season allowing them to put out new apparel manufactured at lower costs that can be discounted immediately not hurting margins.
More will be known of how individual stores did during the season when companies begin reporting December sales on January 7.
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