According to several sources (National Retail Federation, Shop.org, & Deloitte), holiday sales for 2012 are expected to grow anywhere from 3.5% to 4.1%. Although this is a somewhat modest increase, this is fantastic news for both retailers as well as consumers. The increase is due in most part to an improvement in consumer confidence.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) states that their 2012 holiday sales forecast is higher than the 10 year average holiday sales increase of 3.5 percent. (It is interesting to note that actual holiday sales in 2011 grew by 5.6 percent).
Shop.org predicts, for the first time, that online holiday sales will grow 12 percent over the last holiday season in 2011.
Although both consumers and businesses might stall a bit in their spending prior to the election, it is predicted that retailers might just benefit from a post-election consumer spending boost.
Additionally, it is predicted that retailers will hire between 585,000 and 625,000 seasonal workers this 2012 holiday season. This number is right about the same as what occured during the 2011 holiday season.
All in all, this is good news for the US.
Quote of the Day - "Insist on yourself. Never imitate." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
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