The National Retail Federation says it expects sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas, and restaurant sales) to increase 3.7% to $630.5 billion — significantly higher than the 10-year average of 2.5%. Holiday sales in 2015 are expected to represent approximately 19% of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. Additionally, NRF is forecasting online sales to increase between 6% and 8% to as much as $105 billion.
Holiday sales in 2014 increased 4.1% over the previous year.
Additionally, the NRF says retailers are expected to hire between 700,000 and 750,000 seasonal workers this holiday season, in line with last year’s 714,000 new holiday positions.
