Early signs point to a holiday shopping season that was far more Santa than Grinch for Maine retailers, in line with national consumer spending trends, according to the head of the Retail Association of Maine.
“I haven’t done a wide swath survey, but anecdotally some retailers seemed to have a very strong year,” Curtis Picard, president and CEO of the Augusta-based trade association, told Mainebiz.
“We won’t see the Maine sales tax receipts until mid-February, but if Maine mirrors the national trend, I would be very happy with that,” he added.
Citing U.S. Census Bureau data released last week, the National Retail Federation said that core retail sales during the 2024 holiday season grew 4% over 2023 to a record $994.1 billion.The organization called the increase “unexpectedly high.”
That brings the full-year total to a record $5.28 trillion, 3.6% higher than 2023, according to the Washington, D.C. trade group. the organization had predicted an increase of 2.5% to 3.5%.
“Consumers came out to spend this holiday season and clearly underscored the solid growth in the U.S. economy,” said Jack Kleinhenz, the group’s chief economist. “The spending pace was back to pre-pandemic growth and indicates a good start for the year ahead.”
He noted that while the shorter holiday shopping calendar likely prompted more online shopping, there was also a return to in-person shopping experiences and a focus on early buying.
The 2024 figure were driven in part by lower inflation compared with 2023, particularly for goods, he noted.
“Even though consumers are still relatively healthy and there was a notable increase in spending, they remain budget conscious,” he said.
The NRF’s 2024 holiday sales tally tops the previous record of $955.6 billion spent during the 2023 holiday season.
NRF’s calculation excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on core retail. The group defines the holiday season as the period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.