consumer trends

2025 State of the Industry: Expectations for the year

To say the last five years have been eventful for the retail industry would be an understatement. Retailers and wholesalers alike have encountered quite the gamut of headwinds, including a pandemic, inflation and supply chain... more »

Home for the Holidays: Trends for 2025

The holidays may be wrapping up, but it’s already prime time to begin plans for the 2025 season. While some trends are keeping with holiday classics, others are seeing twists on popular themes. “No matter... more »

Thanksgiving weekend sees 197M shoppers, marks second-highest in history

The five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday saw an estimated 197 million shoppers, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. [caption id="attachment_90479" align="alignright"... more »

NRF: Steady sales growth expected for 2024 holiday season

The National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasted that 2024 holiday spending is expected to grow between 2.5% and 3.5% over 2023. That equates to between $979.5 billion and $989 billion in total holiday spending in November... more »

NRF: US households have the ‘underpinnings to spend’

Retail sales continued to grow in August, fueled by rising wages amid falling inflation, said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist of the National Retail Federation (NRF). “These numbers show the continued resiliency of the American consumer,”... more »

Nearly half of Halloween shoppers to purchase items before October

Early Halloween shopping is on the rise, with 47% of survey participants beginning their shopping before October, according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics. [caption id="attachment_89982" align="alignright"... more »

Economy ‘on the cusp’ of a soft landing with recession unlikely

With the economy slowing but still growing and inflation down as the Federal Reserve prepares to lower interest rates, the U.S. appears to have dodged a recession, National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said.... more »

Census retail sales data for May shows a ‘reasonably healthy consumer’

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today shows retail sales grew again in May and helped drive a still-expanding economy, National Retail Federation (NRF) Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “May’s retail sales give us... more »