On Friday, US National Retail Federation (NRF), the Washington DC-headquartered world’s largest retail trade association, had issued a statement saying that US holiday sales rose higher-than-anticipated, as more Americans appear to have returned to brick-and-mortar stores despite a surge in Omicron cases.
Nonetheless, supply chain bottlenecks had reportedly curbed out a substantial chunk from retail sales, as a steep lack of materials had been leading to a gut-wrenching gobble up in price pressures, limiting the American households’ purchasing power.
According to NRF, US holiday sales in 2021 between November 1 and December 24 stood at $886.7, which had handily beaten an analysts’ estimate, while US e-commerce sales soared by a condoling 14.1 per cennt, beating a latest forecast of 11.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, addressing to an affirmative US holiday sakes outlook, NRF Chief Executive Matthew Shay said in a statement, “Despite supply chain problems, rising inflation, labor shortages and the Omicron variant, retailers delivered a positive holiday experience to pandemic-fatigued consumers and their families.
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US holiday sales soar to record as US household wealth hover at record
In point of fact, latest jubilant US holiday sales data came against the backdrop of a much squeezed labor market with unemployment rate tumbling to a 22-monthh low of 3.9 per cent, eventually stoking hope of a maximum employment in a near term.
Aside from that, in an alignment with a lack of available workers in the US, employers had heightened up wages by a substantial scale last year, eventually leading to a higher inflation amid a supply chain bottleneck, while a roaring US capital market alongside a better landscape in households’ savings amid unjustified, yet lucrative stimulus checks from the Biden Administration had led to a vigorous US holiday sales with American forking out a higher-than-anticipated sum on wide ranging goods ranging from furniture to electronics.