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Holiday Sales Hit Record High, Says NRF
Core retail sales during the 2024 holiday season surpassed the National Retail Federation’s forecast.
Core retail sales during the holiday season rose 4 percent year-over-year to a record $994.1 billion, coming in above the National Retail Federation’s expectations.
Washington, D.C.—Holiday retail sales hit record levels in 2024, exceeding the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) expectations.
Core retail sales during the holiday season rose 4 percent year-over-year to a record $994.1 billion, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with $955.6 billion in 2023.
NRF had expected 2024 winter holiday spending to grow between 2.5 and 3.5 percent year-over-year, reaching between $979.5 billion and $989 billion.
“Consumers came out to spend this holiday season and clearly underscored the solid growth in the US economy,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz.
“The spending pace was back to pre-pandemic growth and indicates a good start for the year ahead.”
Though the shorter holiday season led to more online shopping, he said, there was a return to in-store shopping and a focus on buying gifts early.
“The 2024 figures were driven in part by lower inflation compared with 2023, particularly for goods. Even though consumers are still relatively healthy and there was a notable increase in spending, they remain budget conscious,” said Kleinhenz.
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Core retail sales during the holiday season rose 4 percent year-over-year to a record $994.1 billion, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with $955.6 billion in 2023.
NRF had expected 2024 winter holiday spending to grow between 2.5 and 3.5 percent year-over-year, reaching between $979.5 billion and $989 billion.
“Consumers came out to spend this holiday season and clearly underscored the solid growth in the US economy,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz.
“The spending pace was back to pre-pandemic growth and indicates a good start for the year ahead.”
Though the shorter holiday season led to more online shopping, he said, there was a return to in-store shopping and a focus on buying gifts early.
“The 2024 figures were driven in part by lower inflation compared with 2023, particularly for goods. Even though consumers are still relatively healthy and there was a notable increase in spending, they remain budget conscious,” said Kleinhenz.
NRF bases its calculations of retail sales on Census Bureau data but excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations, and restaurants to focus on core retail.
Its holiday total, which is not adjusted for inflation, includes online and other non-store sales.
NRF defines the holiday season as Nov. 1-Dec. 31.
Online and other non-store sales were up 9 percent to $296.7 billion, in line with its forecast of 8 to 9 percent growth to between $295.1 billion and $297.9 billion.
For the full year, core retail sales grew 4 percent to a record $5.28 trillion, reaching the high end of NRF’s forecast for 2024 annual sales to grow between 2.5 and 3.5 percent to between $5.23 trillion and $5.28 trillion.
Core retail sales, unadjusted, were up 4 percent year-over-year in both November and December.
The late timing of Thanksgiving shifted sales on Thanksgiving Sunday and Cyber Monday from November into December, said NRF, which affected results for both months.
Holiday sales saw year-over-year gains in seven of nine retail categories, led by online sales, furniture stores, and electronics and appliances stores.
As for seasonal hiring, the NRF estimated retailers hired 438,000 seasonal workers during November and December, in line with the 400,000 to 500,000 NRF had expected, citing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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