Dive Brief:
- The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects holiday online sales to grow 6% to 8% this year, and for e-commerce growth to outpace overall retail sales growth in November and December.
- Retail sales overall are expected to grow 3.7% -- a little less than last year's 4.1% growth -- to a total spend of $630.5 billion.
- The forecast expects online sales to reach as high as $105 billion out of the expected $630.5 billion total.
Dive Insight:
According to the National Retail Federation, this holiday should be strong for online sales. The rise in e-commerce is expected to outpace the growth of overall retail sales, showing that much of retail's growth today is happening online.
“With several months of solid retail sales behind us, we’re heading into the all-important holiday season fully expecting to see healthy growth,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay told Marketing Land. “We expect families to spend prudently and deliberately, though still less constrained than what we saw even two years ago.”
"Price, value and even timing will all play a role in how, when, where and why people shop over the holiday season," he added. "Retailers will be competitive not only on price, but on digital initiatives, store hours, product offerings and much more.”