US Season Sales Great – Both in Store and Online

As the year is winding down and the season is ending, retailers and researchers are already summing it up, but while the tallying is still going on, first results are becoming evident – and they are good.

The holiday rush in December appears to boost retailers’ outlook for the reminder of the season, reveals the NRF. The NRF Retail Sector Performance Index (RSPI) grew at a faster pace in December (6.2 percent) than the previous month (2.1 percent) and was 12 percentage points above its year-to-year value.

US retailers, reports Bloomberg, led by luxury retailers like Saks and Neiman Marcus probably posted their biggest holiday season sales gains in at least four years, boosted by after-Christmas discounts on jewelry and clothing.

Diamond jewelry sales of items in the $100 to $500 range at the “majors”, big department stores such as JC Penny and Sears, are up 5 – 8 percent for the season, beating general retail sales that rose about 4 percent in the last two months.

International Council of Shopping Centers economist Michael Niemira says the 4 percent retail store gains is the largest gain since 1999.

According to Ofer Azrielant, CEO of Andin International - one of the biggest jewelry manufacturers in the US, “whimsical and vintage jewelry items were strong items”. Among the whimsical category shoe and handbag shaped pendants were the hottest items.

White gold was the popular metal, says Azrielant who supplies the majors, but yellow gold is becoming strong.

“This has clearly been a much stronger holiday season than last year,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Consumers have not only shown that they are ready to spend, but it appears they are spreading their spending more equally among diverse retail segments”. The NRF continues to project that holiday sales will increase 5.7 percent over last year.

The good news does not end there. Online retailers had a fantastic season too. Online sales broke records with a 29 percent jump in sales to $11.72 billion from $9.08 billion last year, reports ComScore.

ComScore, which tracks the online spending of 1.5 million Internet users, says retailing grew by a stunning 43 percent to $950 million between November 1 and December 26. And these figures do not include online travel or auctions.

Some of the biggest gainers this season were jewelry and watches, which grew together with furniture, home and garden items.