Holiday sales plummet in U.S.

New York, United States, December 26: SpendingPulse has noted in the data released that United States retailers have witnessed around 4 percent fall in sales in this holiday season. This holiday shoppers have limited their purchasing because of weak economy, also bad weather discouraged many people to go shopping.

The holiday shopping season had begun from Thanksgiving through Christmas. According to the figures shown by the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, this holiday season’s sales were the worst in four decades.

U.S. citizens are facing recession, credit crises and highest unemployment in last 15 years, which has led to fewer purchases. Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis, estimated that till date, sales have dropped by 2 to 4 percent starting from November. His figures pertained to grocery, restaurant and specialty food sales, but excluded auto and gas sales.

"It's probably one of the most challenging holiday seasons we've ever had in modern times. We had a very difficult economic environment. Weather patterns were not favorable toward the end of season, and that resulted in one of the most challenging economic seasons we've seen in decades," McNamara said.

MasterCard Advisors had been tracking sales data since 2002 for SpendingPulse service. According to the figures of SpendingPulse, throughout the holiday season, sales of women’s clothing fell 23 percent whereas men’s dropped 14 percent. Decrease in footwear sales was 13.5 percent.

Luxury sales, which include leather goods, jewelry and restaurants witnessed fall up to 34.5 percent. Excluding jewelry sales, the remaining Luxury sales recorded a drop of 21.2 percent.

However, online sales showed an increase as also benefitted by bad weather especially in the northern United States, where bad weather lead to increase in online shopping for two weeks. E-commerce sales dropped 2.3 percent but gained 1.8 percent in last two weeks.

MasterCard Advisors had been tracking sales data since 2002 for SpendingPulse service. According to the figures of SpendingPulse, throughout the holiday season, sales of women’s clothing fell 23 percent whereas men’s dropped 14 percent. Decrease in footwear sales was 13.5 percent.

Luxury sales, which include leather goods, jewelry and restaurants witnessed fall up to 34.5 percent. Excluding jewelry sales, the remaining Luxury sales recorded a drop of 21.2 percent.

However, online sales showed an increase as also benefitted by bad weather especially in the northern United States, where bad weather lead to increase in online shopping for two weeks. E-commerce sales dropped 2.3 percent but gained 1.8 percent in last two weeks.