U.S. holiday sales rose by 5.3% to $936.3 billion during November and December of 2022, thus narrowly missing estimates of a rise between 6% and 8%, or $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion.
According to the data from the National Retail Federation (NRF), shoppers brought many of their purchases forward to October after being affected by stubbornly high inflation. Furthermore, retailers such as Amazon, Target, and Walmart offered discounts as early as October in an effort to lure in price-sensitive shoppers in an attempt to get rid of excess inventory.
NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz stated that an increase in money spent on necessities such as food left consumers with tighter budgets to use on other items. “I do see slower momentum into 2023… given what we have just seen in the last three months I still think that the consumer is engaged… but there is a lot of uncertainty,” Kleinhenz continued.
While overall sales failed to meet projections, sales between the five-day-long period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday exceeded expectations, with a record 196.7 million shoppers making in-store and online purchases.