A record year for retail sales?
Holiday retail sales could increase 5 percent to 5.6 percent this year, with spending expected to exceed $1.1 trillion, according to Deloitte.
The professional services company also expects e-commerce sales to increase 17 percent to 22 percent, reaching $128 billion to $134 billion in the holiday shopping period, which spans November and December.
Depending on where in Deloitte’s projected range the 2018 figure ends up, 2018 could be even better than 2017.
The company attributed the expected increase to income growth, a strong labor market and soaring consumer confidence. Downside risks include the impact of Fed interest-rate tightening.
According to The National Retail Federation (NRF) in the November-to-December period of 2017 retail sales increased 5.5 percent compared to 2016 to $691.9 billion. The NRF’s 2017 reading was the strongest since 2010, when sales increased 5.2 percent
Last year, Deloitte projected retail holiday sales would increase 4 percent to 4.5 percent.