US retail sales rose an estimated 3.6 percent this holiday season from a year earlier, helped by online shopping and purchases of electronics, data from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse showed.
The spending estimate for Nov. 1 to Christmas Eve excludes automotive and gasoline sales, the Purchase, New York-based researcher said in an e-mail on Sunday. SpendingPulse measures retail sales across all payment forms, including cash and checks. The firm didn’t disclose dollar spending totals.
A jump in purchases the week before Christmas helped year-over-year electronics sales increase 6 percent since Black Friday on Nov. 27, and 5.9 percent for the holiday season starting on Nov. 1, SpendingPulse said. More shopping occurred online, with sales rising 18 percent from Nov. 27 to Christmas Eve.
“People were more comfortable doing last-minute shopping online, especially with the bad weather,” Kamalesh Rao, director of economic research for SpendingPulse, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
A snowstorm on the east coast the weekend before Christmas closed some malls early on Dec. 19 and kept shoppers at home.
SpendingPulse doesn’t provide forecasts for holiday sales. The National Retail Federation has predicted a 1 percent decline in US spending for the season. The International Council of Shopping Centers, another trade group, anticipates a 2 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year.
Sales of women’s and specialty apparel fell less than 1 percent from Nov. 1 to Christmas Eve compared with a year earlier as gains since Nov. 27 helped mitigate the drop. Colder weather may have accounted for a pickup in purchases, Rao said, while men’s clothing and footwear sales increased throughout the season.
Jewelry sales rose 5.6 percent for last month and this month, while luxury retail excluding jewelry edged up 0.8 percent, SpendingPulse said. Men’s clothing sales gained 3.9 percent for the season and footwear sales rose 5 percent.
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