Consumers set a massive record in holiday sales as people finally began to feel the pressure of inflation ease, New York Times business and policy reporter Lauren Hirsch told MSNBC's Jessica Layton on Thursday.
This follows a number of other reports from retailers showing healthy sales — and not just the traditionally solid online stores, they noted, but, in a more surprising twist, brick and mortar department store chains that have been bleeding market share for years.
"Despite a shorter holiday shopping season this year, Americans spent a record amount of money," said Layton. "According to a survey from the National Retail Association, between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, shoppers were expected to spend up to $989 billion on gifts and seasonal things like candy, decorations, and food ... we just came off a campaign season where people were complaining about the price of eggs. What drove this record number of shoppers?"
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"It's seemingly consumer confidence," said Hirsch. "The holiday season is about spending. It's about people wanting to put money out there, and they have been very frustrated. In the supermarket, we saw that, as you said, kind of decide the election, it seems. But overall, inflation has come down. And we're seeing the reaction to that in the spending. It's up not only over forecast but over last year's holiday spending as well."
"The biggest came from online shopping," noted Layton. "67 percent, followed by department stores."
"Which is fascinating," Hirsch said. "Because I have covered retail and department stores have really struggled even to get people in the stores. And while online was up, so was in-store shopping, which is a shocking development. You would have never thought it five years ago."
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