Last Surge Boosts Holiday Sales Past Last Year's Total

Late holiday shoppers—in the week leading up to Christmas and on the day after—provided the boost to lift 2011 holiday sales past the same period last year, according to data released Wednesday.

Consumers spent approximately $44 billion in GAFO retail sales for the week ending Dec. 24, a 37.8 percent increase over the previous week and a 14.8 percent gain over the same week last year, according to ShopperTrak, which provides traffic counting services at retail stores and malls. Foot traffic was also high, increasing 32.4 percent from the prior week.

GAFO is derived from the U.S. Commerce Department's and stands for general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby, books and other related store sales.

Last week’s sales increase ensured this December will outpace December 2010. Month-to-date figures are up 4.7 percent over December 2010, the Chicago-based firm said.

“With good weather in most of the country and the season coming to a close, procrastinators and bargain hunters hit the stores and gave retailers the sales lift they needed to outpace last year,” said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin

According to ShopperTrak, a late holiday shopping surge is not uncommon. Last year, the 10 days before Christmas accounted for 24.4 percent of total GAFO retail sales in the entire holiday shopping season of November and December.

“Increased foot-traffic does not always translate into sales,” added Martin. “Retailers who monitored their foot-traffic hourly and adjusted inventory and staffing to convert shoppers into buyers were the most successful last week.”

As expected, shoppers came out in full force on the day after Christmas because it fell on a Monday for the first time in six years. The day ranked fourth in foot-traffic and sales for the entire holiday season, behind Black Friday November 26, Friday December 23 and Super Saturday December 17. Foot traffic increased 25.9 percent over the same day last year and consumers spent $7.1 billion on Dec. 26 in GAFO retail sales, an increase of 25.5 percent percent over the same day in the prior year.

“Dec. 26 was likely the last door-buster day of the season as shoppers returned unwanted gift items and shopped for marked-down merchandise,” said Martin. “ShopperTrak expects a drop in sales this week as the season ends. Retailers must continue to monitor same-store traffic to capitalize on the final week of the holiday season.”

ShopperTrak analyzed foot-traffic from more than 25,000 locations in the United States to create this National Retail Sales Estimate of GAFO—a nationwide benchmark of GAFO retail sales.

Holiday Online Spending Sets Records

U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion on e-Commerce, a 15.4 percent increase over the 2009 holiday season, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse. However, jewelry, while making year-over-year gains, lagged behind other merchandise categories.

“Today eCommerce accounts for a much larger share of overall retail sales compared to a few years ago. And during this holiday season, it registered double digit growth for 6 out of 7 weeks,” said Michael McNamara, vice president, for the Purchase, N.Y.-based research arm of MasterCard, which measures sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payments.

Apparel sales was the clear leader, accounting for 18.8 percent of total ecommerce sales, compared to 16.9 percent in 2009.

“Online electronics, not surprisingly, also recorded significant gains, while Jewelry, although still in positive territory, lagged behind, McNamara added.

Six days in the 2010 season surpassed $1 billion in sales compared with 3 days in 2009. The top day was November 30, which registered $1.16 billion in sales, followed by Dec. 1, which had $1.13 billion. The Monday after Thanksgiving, known as CyberMonday, a promotion of online retailers, generated $999.3 million in sales, a 25.3 percent increase, year-over-year.

Meanwhile, comScore, which measures consumer online spending, reports that consumers spent $28.36 billion online for the first 49 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season—a 12 percent increase, year-over-year. The most recent week reached $5.5 billion in spending, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year. The final shopping weekend before Christmas reached $900 million in retail e-commerce spending, representing a strong 17-percent growth rate versus last year.

Spending growth has remained strong right through the final shopping weekend of the holiday season,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based research company. “The growth rate of 17 percent witnessed during the final weekend capped off the heaviest online spending week of all time at $5.5 billion.”

Holiday Jewelry, Luxury Sales Show Continued Strength

Reuters

Jewelry sales for the holiday season have increased 2.6 percent year-over-year, according to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, which tracks national retail and services sales. Luxury sales, excluding jewelry, are doing slightly better at 2.8 percent.

Jewelry sales have grown steadily in the latter part of the season, according to the report, which tracks sales from October 31 to December 11. Overall, retail sales are generally up with some exceptions, most notably electronics.

“The modest growth we first saw with the August Back-to-School season has accelerated. These results suggest that retail spending continues to gain traction,” said Michael McNamara, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse vice president. “Most sectors are showing steady improvements, with Electronics, Department Stores and Furnishings categories recording flat to small declines. The solid November growth rates have continued across most areas through the first half of December.”

In addition to jewelry and luxury, SpendingPulse, which uses card swipe data from MasterCard and estimates of other payment methods, analyzed the Electronics, Apparel and eCommerce sectors. Here are the midseason highlights:

eCommerce
eCommerce continues to be one of the stars of the season with a season-to-date growth rate of 13.5 percent. The sector has been showing double-digit weekly year-over-year growth rates since the second week in November.

Apparel
The Total Apparel category was up 9.8 percent for the season-to-date. Women's Apparel sales were up 4.4 percent for the season with the category recording a slightly better showing since Black Friday. Men's Apparel sales grew 8.4 percent year-over-year. Growth within the Teen and Family Apparel segments is also strong.

Electronics
Electronics sales fell below 2009 levels during the three weeks leading up to Black Friday. Sales during the rest of the period barely made up the decline, with sales season-to-date recording a 0.4 percent increase over last year.

NRF Raises Holiday Forecast

After a solid start to the holiday season, the National Retail Federation has revised its forecast for the November and December holiday season to 3.3 percent, up from 2.3 percent. The upward revision is due to improvement in a variety of economic indicators including stock market gains, recent income growth, savings built up during the recession—all giving consumers the capacity to spend.

According to NRF, November retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) increased 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted over October and 6.8 percent unadjusted over last year.

“The start to the holiday season has surpassed all expectations,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “While employment data is still a concern, we are starting to see improvement in other economic indicators that support an increase to our forecast. In order to sustain this momentum for retailers and the U.S. economy, there must be a renewed focus on jobs as we enter the new year.”

November retail sales released today by the U.S. Commerce Department show total retail sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as autos, gasoline stations and restaurants) increased 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted over October and 9.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year. 

“Consumers have not been suffering from a lack of spending power, they’ve just been missing the confidence to use it,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz. “With noticeable improvement in key economic indicators combined with great deals on merchandise, consumers have certainly shown they shouldn’t be counted out this holiday season.” 

Solid gains across the board indicate some pent up demand as consumers stocked up on items such as apparel, accessories and books and music. Sales at clothing and clothing accessory stores increased 2.7 percent seasonally adjusted over last month and a strong 9.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year. Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores sales increased 2.3 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 15.5 percent unadjusted year-over-year. 

Health and personal care stores sales increased 0.9 seasonally adjusted over last October and 7.3 percent unadjusted over last year. General merchandise stores sales increased 1.3 percent seasonally adjusted over last month and 4.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Cyber Monday Sales Surpass $1 Billion

Spending on Cyber Monday (November 29), the e-commerce equivalent of Black Friday, reached $1.028 billion, up 16 percent year-over-year, representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass the billion-dollar threshold, according to comScore. For the November – December 2010 holiday season to date (November 1-29), $13.55 billion has been spent online, a 13-percent increase versus the corresponding days the prior year. The figures do not include spending on travel.

“The online holiday shopping season has clearly gotten off to a very strong start, which is welcome news,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of the Reston, Va.-based company which measures digital data. “At the same time, it’s important to note that some of the early strength in consumer spending is almost certainly the result of retailers’ heavier-than-normal promotional and discounting activity at this early point in the season. So, while we anticipate that there will be more billion-dollar spending days ahead as we get deeper into the season, only time will tell if overall consumer online spending remains at the elevated levels we’ve seen thus far.”

Cyber Monday’s growth in sales was driven primarily by an increase in average spending per buyer (up 12 percent) while the number of buyers on Cyber Monday grew by a lower 4 percent to 9 million, the company said. The average spending per transaction grew 10 percent to $60.05, while the total number of transactions increased 6 percent to 17.1 million.

Nearly half of dollars spent online at U.S. Web sites originated from work computers (48.9 percent), representing a decline of 3.8 percentage points from last year. Buying from home comprised the majority of the remaining share (45.4 percent) while buying at U.S. Web sites from international locations accounted for 5.8 percent of sales.

“While online shopping from work originally occurred to take advantage of broadband speeds that people lacked at home, it was widely believed that this would decline markedly as home broadband connectivity increased,” Fulgoni said. The fact that spending from work remains so prevalent suggests other explanations. It is more likely that consumers continue to shop from work primarily because by doing so they are able to shop for holiday gifts while minimizing the risk that their children, spouses and significant others might see what Santa will bring .”

Cyber Monday is a marketing term created by Shop.org, an association of digital retailers, to encourage consumers to shop online. It is held on the first Monday following Black Friday.

Jewelry is Making a Comeback this Holiday Season

Jewelry has returned to many holiday wish lists, a sign that discretionary spending is back in vogue this holiday season, according to a just released survey.

A total of 23 percent of people surveyed will be asking for jewelry this holiday season, a 10 percent jump from last year’s 20.8 percent, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

Gift cards will remain the most requested holiday gift this year with 57 percent of people asking for plastic, followed by clothing (48.2%) and books (47.3%).

Overall, U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $688.87 on holiday-related shopping, a slight rise from last year’s $681.83, according to the annual survey.

As in years past, most holiday gift-givers will spend the largest portion of their budget buying gifts for family ($393.55) and friends ($71.45), though they’ll still carve out room in their budget for small tokens of appreciation for both co-workers ($18.26) and others ($34.82). Total spending on gifts ($518.08) is expected to rise 2.1 percent from last year, which is in line with NRF says. Americans will also spend an average of $41.51 on decorations, $26.10 on greeting cards and postage, $86.32 on candy and food, and $16.86 on flowers.

“Consumers will still shop with the economy in the back of their minds, but we’re starting to see shoppers take baby steps toward a new normal,” said, Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO. “As Americans open up their wallets for more discretionary gifts like jewelry or take advantage of sales to buy for themselves, retailers will begin to truly believe that the worst may be behind them.”

According to the survey, 61.7 percent of shoppers say the economy will impact their spending, down from last year’s 65.3 percent. Many shoppers say they will compensate by spending less (81.5%), comparison shopping online (30.9%) or with newspapers and circulars (28.1%), shopping for sales (54.1%) or using more coupons (40.6%). Although the economy continues to impact shoppers, a number of survey results indicate that shoppers may be ready to emerge from their shells this holiday season.

When asked which factor will be most important when shopping this holiday season, the majority of shoppers said that sales or price discounts (41.8%) or everyday low prices (12.7%) were most important. While those factors either declined or remained flat this year, two other categories rose in importance. The number of people who counted customer service as the most important factor rose from 4.4 percent last year to 5.3 percent this year, while shoppers who touted quality as the overriding factor rose from 11.8 percent to 12.7 percent.

“Price is paramount during any recession, but when the economy begins to recover other factors take on greater importance,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “When shoppers consider other factors like customer service and quality in buying decisions, retailers have the ability to highlight a variety of other features to help their company stand out from the competition.”

Another sign that shoppers feel a bit of breathing room in their budget, the number of persons who say they will make a holiday purchase from a discounter dropped from 70.1 percent last year to 65.1 percent this year. Popular holiday shopping destinations will include department stores (54.5%), grocery stores (46.7%), the Internet (43.9%) and clothing stores (33.6%).

Americans aren’t only shifting where they’re shopping—how they’re shopping is changing, too. Mobile devices like iPhones and Androids are becoming more popular among consumers, and many shoppers plan to use these devices this holiday season to look for gift ideas, compare prices and find items in nearby stores. According to the survey, more than quarter of adults with a smartphone will use these devices to research or make holiday purchases, and that number jumps to 45 percent among young adults 18-24. Retailers are expected to take advantage of this trend by offering more robust mobile apps and Web sites, along with enhanced features like mobile reviews, to cater to Americans looking to shop from their phones.

Yet another hopeful indicator: the number of people who plan to take advantage of holiday sales to make non-gift purchases for themselves will rise 8 percent this year (52.9% in ’09 to 57.1% this year), with the average holiday shopper spending $107.50 on themselves, up from $101.37 last year.

Though the holiday season won’t kick off for many retailers until at least November 1, a sizeable number of shoppers are already planning ahead. According to the survey, 37.2 percent of Americans will begin holiday shopping by Halloween. Women are the most likely to begin shopping by the end of October (42.1%) while young adults 18-24 are among the least likely (27.7%).

NRF expects holiday sales to rise 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion.

What Recession? NRF Projects a 2.8% Holiday Sales Increase

On the heels of a holiday season that outperformed most analysts’ expectations, holiday retail sales for 2011 are expected to increase 2.8 percent to $465.6 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that growth is far lower than the 5.2 percent increase retailers experienced last year, it is slightly higher than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.6 percent.

“Retailers are optimistic that a combination of strong promotions and lean inventory levels will help them address consumer caution this holiday season,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO. “While businesses remain concerned over the viability of the economic recovery, there is no doubt that the retail industry is in a better position this year to handle consumer uncertainty than it was in 2008 and 2009.”

Though several economic indicators paint a solid picture for the holiday season–including 14 consecutive months of retail sales growth and a substantial reduction in household debt–continued consumer uncertainty over the stock market, higher gas and food prices, fiscal policy and sputtering job growth will impact spending this holiday season.

The retail trade association also estimates that retailers will hire 480,000-500,000 seasonal workers, which is comparable to the 495,000 seasonal employees they hired last year. This is in addition to 100,000 people retailers have hired since August.

2010 Holiday Sales Expected to Rise

After two anemic years of retail sales for the November-December holiday season, two retail associations are predicting a modest improvement in retail sales this year.

Holiday sales are expected to increase 2.3 percent this year to $447.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that growth remains slightly lower than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it would be a marked improvement from both last year’s 0.4 percent uptick and the dismal 3.9 percent holiday sales decline retailers experienced in 2008.

Meanwhile, the International Council of Shopping Centers predict that holiday sales this year will rise 2.5 percent over last year’s season, a considerable improvement over last holiday season’s 0.5 percent gain.

“While many consumers will be wishing for apparel and electronics this holiday season, retailers are hoping the holidays bring sustainable economic growth,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO. “Though the retail industry is on stronger footing than last year, companies are closely watching key economic indicators like employment and consumer confidence before getting too optimistic that the recession is behind them.”

As in previous years, retailers are expected to focus on supply chain efficiencies and inventory control this holiday season to limit their exposure to excess merchandise and unplanned markdowns, the NRF said. Companies are also expected to leverage new channels—like mobile—to drive sales and provide added service to customers who want to shop anytime, anywhere.

“While consumers have shown they are once again willing to spend on what’s important to them, they will still be very conscientious about price,” said Jack Kleinhenz, NRF chief economist. “Retailers are expected to compensate for this fundamental shift in shopper mentality by offering significant promotions throughout the holiday season and emphasizing value throughout their marketing efforts.”

The ICSC say that much of the growth will be led by discounts.

“Prices and uncertainty will weigh heavily on the holiday outlook,” said Frank Badillo, an economist with consulting firm Kantar Retail. “Ongoing price competition among retailers, led by Walmart, is more likely to take a toll on sales gains than boost unit demand among shoppers who remain value conscious. We expect shopper demand to remain modest as job and income gains remain constrained by reluctance among firms to invest and hire amid an uncertain outlook. If that uncertainty turns to confidence in the weeks ahead, however, then holiday sales could climb more than forecast.”

The soft-sales trend will continue into the first half of 2011, Badillo says.

Samuels Jewelers Holiday Comps Up 8.4%

Samuels Jewelers retail chain said same store jewelry sales for the nine-week holiday season were up 8.4 percent, driven by an 11.2 percent increase in December. The season kicked off with a record breaking Black Friday. 

The Austin, Texas-based jewelry retailer operates approximately 104 stores in 22 states primarily in the Southwestern U.S. It is owned by Gitanjali Group, the Mumbai, India-based international diamond and jewelry manufacturer and jewelry retailer. 

“Samuels' strong holiday season sales demonstrate that it has struck the right chord with USA customers yet again,” said Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Group chairman and managing director. “Customers seeking added value were enchanted by the fresh bouquet of Italian jewelry brands like Giantti and Porrati introduced in stores. The new 97-facet ‘Brilliant Fire’ diamond also found popularity with customers.” 

He added, “With the US market showing signs of stabilizing, we are confident of this trend continuing through the upcoming Valentine season.” 

Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes Web site.

NRF: Holiday Retail Sales Up 3% to $579.8 Billion

Total holiday retail sales increased 3 percent to $579.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Meanwhile, online sales for the holiday season increased 11.1 percent. Both results were below forecasts.

NRF, the retail trade association projected growth to be 4.1 percent for the two-month holiday period. Shop.org, the multi-channel retail trade association, forecasted a 12 percent growth in online sales for the months of November and December.

Solid consumer spending in the month of December helped retailers finish the year with a healthy holiday shopping season, NRF said. However economic uncertainties sent a cautious consumer to the stores. December retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted from November and increased 2.1 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

“For over six months, we’ve been saying that the fiscal cliff and economic uncertainty could impact holiday sales. As the number shows, these issues had a visible impact on consumer spending this holiday season,” said Matthew Shay, NRF President and CEO.

December retail sales, released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, showed that retail and food services sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations, and restaurants) increased 0.5 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and increased 4.7 percent adjusted year-over-year.

Other findings from the NRF’s December retail sales report include:

• Clothing and clothing accessories stores' sales increased 1 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and increased 2.5 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• Electronics and appliance stores’ sales decreased 0.6 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and decreased 0.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• Furniture and home furnishing stores’ sales increased 1.4 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and increased 3.0 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• General merchandise stores’ sales were unchanged seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and decreased 3.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• Health and personal care stores’ sales increased 1.4 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and decreased 0.7 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• Nonstore retailers’ sales increased 0.5 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and increased 9.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

• Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores’ sales increased 0.6 percent seasonally-adjusted month-to-month and increased 4.7 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Please join me on the Jewelry News Network Facebook Page, on Twitter @JewelryNewsNet and on the Forbes Web site.

Richemont Q3 Revenue Up 24%

The Cartier store on 5th Avenue in New York. One of Richemont's luxury brands.

Luxury goods conglomerate Cie. Financiere Richemont SA said Monday that third quarter revenue increased 24 percent year-over-year to 2.62 billion euros ($3.32 billion) with all regions and nearly all of its brands reporting double-digit increases.

Revenue for the month of December alone rose 21 percent, compared with the same period of the prior year.

“The group’s overall performance remains solid,” said Johann Rupert, executive chairman and Group CEO. “The group’s activities over the past nine months enable us to reconfirm our expectations that operating profit for the full year will be significantly higher than last year.”

The largest increase for the Geneva-based company by region was is Asia, which reported a 36-percent rise for the period to 1.05 billion euros ($1.33 billion). Asia is now the company’s biggest market accounting for about 40 percent of total sales.

Europe, its second-largest market, saw sales increase 15 percent for the period to 914 million euros ($1.15 billion). In the Americas, revenue rose 24 percent to 382 million euros ($484 million). In Japan, revenue increased 10 percent to 272 million euros.

Among its jewelry brands (Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels) sales rose by 25 percent to $1.36 billion ($1.72 billion).

In its specialist watchmakers division (Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget, IWC, Baume & Mercier, Vacheron Constantin, Officine Panerai, A. Lange & Söhne and Roger Dubuis, as well as the Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry joint venture) sales increased 27 percent to 697 million euros ($884 million).

Montblanc, listed as a separate division was the only brand to post less than double-digit gains for the period at 1 percent growth to 220 million euros ($279 million).

Among brands Alfred Dunhill, Lancel, Net-a-Porter and Chloé, listed as “Other” by the company, sales rose 29 percent to 339 million euros ($430 million).

Holiday Retail Sales Up 5.7%

Retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) for December rose 5.3 percent unadjusted year-over-year and 0.5 percent seasonally adjusted from November, according to the National Retail Federation.

As a result, preliminary sales for the November and December 2010 holiday season rose 5.7 percent to $462 billion, surpassing NRF's forecast of 3.3 percent. This represents the best holiday sales gain since 2004 when holiday sales increased 5.9 percent.

“In spite of weakness in employment and rising gas prices, consumers showed they still have spending power which helped retailers when it counted most,” said Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO. “Retailers did a tremendous job planning for the season by managing inventory and hitting the right price points that helped them tap into pent up demand.”

Meanwhile the U.S. Commerce Department show total retail sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as autos, gasoline stations and restaurants) increased 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted over November and 8.3 percent unadjusted year-over-year. 

Sales growth from November varied in strength while year-over-year sales showed great strength, NRF said. Sales at clothing and clothing accessory stores decreased 0.2 percent seasonally adjusted over last month but increased a solid 8.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year. Sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores sales increased 0.4 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 8.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year. 

Though the US is still dealing with a weak housing environment, building material and garden equipment stores sales increased 1.9 seasonally adjusted over last month and year-over-year growth of 12 percent.

Electronics and appliance stores sales decreased 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted over November but increased 1.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year. Sales at health and personal care stores 1.6 percent seasonally adjusted month-to-month and 7.2 percent unadjusted over December 2009.

Holiday Jewelry Sales Up 8.4%, Luxury Sales Up 6.7%, Total Holiday Sales Up 5.5%

After a mild start, jewelry posted several weekly sales increases and ended the 2010 holiday shopping season with a year-over-year increase 8.4 percent, according to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse. Meanwhile, luxury sales (excluding jewelry) started the season with a solid gain and then picked up steam, ending with a very respectable year-over-year growth of 6.7 percent.

During the 50-day period (from November 5 till December 24), the data showed overall year-over-year growth of 5.5 percent, excluding auto sales.

“If last year’s holiday story was about gaining some stability, this year’s is about getting back to growth,” said Michael McNamara, vice president, Research and Analysis for SpendingPulse. “The 2010 holiday period is categorized by strong year-over-year growth in apparel and continued strength in e-commerce. We also saw a noticeable return in spending in the larger ticket items, as exemplified by the solid growth in jewelry, luxury and even the furniture category.”

McNamara said the momentum in 2010 holiday season spending appears to have started as early as the second week of November, producing a month of solid growth and persisting through the traditional early December lull.

“The cold weather across much of the country in December appeared to be a positive for the apparel sector,” McNamara said. “While there was some disruptive weather in the Midwest and the west coast toward the end of the season, the conditions did not seem to negatively impact the national sales momentum. In some cases the weather may have also benefited the e-commerce channel.”

As with last year’s holiday season, e-commerce was the big winner this year, with seasonal sales up 15.4 percent. With online sales representing significant share of sector sales in areas such as apparel, the double-digit growth rates are becoming more meaningful.

Apparel sales for the season saw a year-over-year increase of 11.2 percent, according to SpendingPulse, with menswear posting a 10.5 percent year-over-year increase and women’s apparel up 5.6 percent, making for one of the best periods of growth in this subcategory since the financial market turmoil in 2008, according to SpendingPulse. For the 2009 holiday season, apparel sales were down by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, it was electronics sales that lagged this holiday season with a year-over-year sales increase of 1.2 percent, due primarily to the decline in TV prices.

A macroeconomic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.