Retail sales during the 2022 November-December holiday season grew 5.3% over 2021 to $936.3 billion, falling short of the National Retail Federation\u2019s forecast amid continuing inflation and high interest rates, NRF said. While holiday growth was less than expected, sales for the year grew 7% over 2021 to $4.9 trillion, meeting NRF\u2019s forecast of between 6% and 8% growth for the year.<\/p>\n
Matthew Shay, President and CEO, NRF, said, \u201cThe last two years of retail sales have been unprecedented, and no one ever thought it was sustainable. Nonetheless, we closed out 2022 with impressive annual retail sales and a\u00a0respectable holiday season despite historic levels of inflation and interest rate hikes to cool the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers shopped in record numbers and retailers delivered positive holiday experiences to inflation-wary consumers, offering great products at more promotional price levels to fit their stretched budgets. The fact that we saw retail sales growth on top of December\u2019s 14% gain in 2022 shows the resilience of consumers and the creativity of retailers in driving consumption and economic activity while addressing high inflation and continued cost pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n
NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz added, \u201cWe knew it could be touch-and-go for final holiday sales given early shopping in October that likely pulled some sales forward plus price pressures and cold, stormy weather. The pace of spending was choppy, and consumers may have pulled back more than we had hoped, but these numbers show that they navigated a challenging, inflation-driven environment reasonably well. The bottom line is that consumers are still engaged and shopping despite everything happening around them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The holiday results top the $889.3 billion spent during the 2021 holiday season and compare with NRF\u2019s forecast that 2022 holiday retail sales would increase between 6% and 8% over 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. The 2022 growth compares with 4.9% average holiday sales growth over the previous 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Retail sales during the 2022 November-December holiday season grew 5.3% over 2021 to $936.3 billion, falling short of the National Retail Federation\u2019s forecast amid continuing inflation and high interest rates, NRF said. While holiday growth was less than expected, sales for the year grew 7% over 2021 to $4.9 trillion, meeting NRF\u2019s forecast of between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-19434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulletin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n