US retail sales across all categories were up 6% year-on-year in November 2017, and registered a 0.9% rise over the previous month in what the US’ National Retail Federation (NRF) described as an “impressive start to the holiday season, perhaps the best in the last few years."

In a statement released last week, the US retail body said that the online and other non-store sales grew 10.5% year-over-year, reflecting the growth of online shopping. It added that there were broad-based monthly increases across most sectors with the exception of general merchandise stores, which remained unchanged.

NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said, “The combination of job and wage gains, modest inflation and a heathy balance sheet along with elevated consumer confidence has led to solid holiday spending by American households.”

According to him, this indicates a “strong consumer who is confident about the current and future state of the economy”, as well as that “the improved willingness to spend and the purchasing power of consumers will continue to be an economic driver of growth into 2018”.

NRF said that the results indicate that retail sales for the holiday season – defined as November and December – are on track to meet or exceed NRF’s holiday sales forecast for an increase between 3.6 and 4 per cent over last year.

All the figures are seasonally adjusted from October and unadjusted year-over-year, NRF stated.