Jan 9, 2013

National Retail Sales up 2.5 Percent in Holiday SeasonBy Heather SomervilleMercuryNews.com

Extended shopping hours and big sales helped retailers overcome a sluggish start to the holiday season and post strong sales during the final shopping days of the year.

National retail sales and shopper traffic increased 2.5 percent from the holiday shopping season last year, ShopperTrak announced Wednesday. The boost came largely from last-minute shoppers who waited until the final the weekend before Christmas to hit the stores, according to ShopperTrak, which follows retail foot traffic.

The uptick in sales is positive news for retailers, who scrambled through the holiday season with a flurry of extreme discounts and promotions, “but it’s a little bit unremarkable,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. In October, the research firm had projected a 3.3 percent increase in sales from last year, but in mid-December scaled it back to 2.5 percent to account for the sluggish activity. Other analysts have also scaled back their projections to above 2 percent.

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