Holiday sales goals in reach
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The holiday shopping season ended better than it started and most retailers are on track to meet humble sales goals, though many still hope for an extra boost the week after Christmas as consumers cash in gift cards.
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The holiday shopping season is off to a running start, according to surveys released this weekend, though it was still unclear how that will impact retailers' profits.
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Merchants are describing this year's holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows.
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Gift cards remain this holiday season&#39;s wild card for US retailers who have slashed prices by up to 70 percent since Christmas to boost sales, meet their monthly targets and clear out seasonal merchandise.
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The last minute will be a crucial one for U.S. retailers looking to make holiday sales as data released on Tuesday, one week before Christmas, show that consumers continue to procrastinate and that last week's wicked weather stymied holiday shopping.
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Retail sales during the important Thanksgiving weekend showed some strength, with sales measures released Monday reflecting year-over-year growth.
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Online Holiday Shopping Sales Increase Sharply in 2004  The latest holiday online sales forecast numbers are up and running with predicitions all having online sales rise, anywhere from 19% to almost 30% over results from 2003. comScore Networks predicts that online consumer spending for November and December will total between $15.1 ...
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Shoe sales have jumped this holiday  season, but they haven't been enough to kick up holiday sales  growth overall, according to a MasterCard Advisors survey.
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hoAs the holiday season wound down, U.S. residents kept on shopping significantly more than they did in 2006, particularly on the day after Christmas, but they also reported being less satisfied with e-tailers, according to a pair of studies.Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 27 -- the first 57 days of the holiday season -- U.S. shoppers spent almost $28 billion in online retail purchases, up 19 percent compared with the same period in 2006, according to comScore.Shoppers spent $545 million on Dec. 26, more than doubling the spending on that day in 2006, as they took advantage of late-season offers and discounts, according to comScore.Still, it looks like online spending growth for the 2007 holiday season will fail to meet comScore&#39;s 20 percent forecast, and fall way below the 26 percent growth registered during this period in 2006.comScore chalks up the smaller-than-expected growth to several factors, including warm weather in early November and various economic challenges this year, including higher gas prices, the real estate crunch, and a &quot;jittery&quot; stock market, the company said Sunday.Another important metric that dropped this holiday season compared with 2006&#39;s was customer satisfaction, according to ForeSee Results, a provider of online customer-satisfaction measurement services.A survey of more than 11,000 shoppers revealed that, on a 100-point scale, customer satisfaction with the largest 40 e-tailers dropped, in aggregate, to 74 points, down 1.3 points from the 2006 holiday season, according to ForeSee. It conducted the survey in conjunction with FGI Research using the methodology of the University of Michigan&#8217;s American Customer Satisfaction Index.Still, the spending growth in online shopping this holiday season, even at 19 percent, would greatly outpace the growth of overall U.S. retail holiday spending, forecast at 4 percent by the National Retail Federation.That 4 percent growth rate -- which would put 2007 holiday season retail spending in the United States at almost $475 billion -- would fall below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent and be the slowest since 2002, according to the National Retail Federation.
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It's shaping up to be a very  merry holiday season for online retailers.
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With four days left before Christmas, retailers are still waiting for a holiday shopping blitz -- and beginning to worry they won&#39;t hit their sales projections for the season.
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It now appears likely that Microsoft will exceed its goal of 10 million Xbox 360 consoles sold by the end of year. Also, sales during the crucial Thanksgiving weekend surpassed 100,000 consoles per day, BetaNews has learned.
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Don&#39;t expect higher gas prices to dull gift-giving this year: Consumers plan to spend a bit more on holiday gifts and merchandise, according to a survey released Wednesday.
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NEW YORK - The holiday selling season got off to a strong start this weekend, which means...actually, it may not mean anything at all.
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U.S. shoppers are starting to get into  the holiday spirit, with indices on Tuesday showing sales  picking up with only 10 shopping days until Christmas.
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The Thanksgiving weekend is over, and the typical consumer has completed 37 percent of his or her holiday shopping, according to a National Retail Federation survey released Sunday.
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Seasons greetings are near, but so far there's little cheer for U.S. retailers wishing for "must-have" apparel items to land on holiday shopping lists.