Luxury retailers and online sellers had a good Christmas but most retailers had only a reasonable holiday season with discounters unable to fight off the challenge to lower income pocket books of higher gas prices and winter higher heating costs.

 

Wealthier shoppers rang up about 14 percent more $1,000-plus sales tickets than last Christmas, said Michael McNamara, Director of Research Products at MasterCard's professional services arm, MasterCard Advisors.

Online giant Amazon recorded Monday its busiest day ever, taking orders for more than 2.8 million items.

 

“Definitely luxury did the best. Discounters had a unique challenge - higher gas prices for their core customers and this winter higher heating costs,” said Scott Krugman of the National Retail Federation. “But we're not post-game yet. This week is very important and can account for 10-20 percent of holiday sales.”

 

Retail sales figures for the Christmas season are not expected to be available for a week or so. In any case, the overall retail picture may not be completely clear for several weeks since post-Christmas sales are forecast to come in strong due to deals being offered by stores and consumers spending cash received for Christmas and using gift cards.

 

Meanwhile, three key retail indices indicated U.S. retailers were on track to post solid although not spectacular Christmas sales after a last-minute dash to stores.

 

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and UBS' weekly chain store retail index found sales rose 2.7 percent in the week ending December 25 from the previous week with sales up 4.3 percent on a year ago, its strongest gain since early July.

 

“Although holiday sales were slow and uneven for most of the season, last-minute shoppers were out in force last week,” ICSC Chief Economist Michael Niemira said. Niemira expects November and December sales to rise 2.5 - 3 percent compared with previous targets for a 3 - 4 percent gain.

 

The National Retail Federation also said last-minute shoppers were a major factor this Christmas season. “They helped many retailers meet their holiday projections or at least come much closer to their forecast,” said NRF spokeswoman Ellen Tolley.

 

Research firm ShopperTrak said last-minute shoppers drove sales in the last week before Christmas up 11.6 percent from a year ago after an unpredictable holiday season.

 

The independent Johnson Redbook retail sales index was up 3.0 percent last week after a 2.1 percent rise the previous week, with cold weather and price cuts boosting sales of jewelry as well as clothing, toys, electronics, and home goods.

 

But for December overall the index was only up 2.2 percent on a year earlier, missing a target for a 2.6 percent gain. "The last-minute Christmas rush was not enough to make up for many retailers' under-par pre-Christmas performance," ShopperTrak said.

 

The National Retail Federation sees same-store sales rising 4.5 percent, to $220 billion, compared with 5.1 percent last year, while the ICSC expects sales to rise up to 3.5 percent.