My favorite time of year...ok, maybe not favorite, that is saved for Spurs Playoffs, March Madness and Fantasy Football Draft Prep, but holiday retail results are pretty close. As the child of a retailer, and someone who was raised in the retail store, I love the "report card" that comes in January. The 2010 holiday season was great for retailers across the board according the TechCrunch.com. "Online spending in the fourth quarter of 2010 reached record levels, according to comScore’slatest data on retail e-commerce. After a stronger than expected holiday shopping season, online retail spending in Q4 reached a record $43.4 billion, which is up 11 percent from the same quarter in 2009. Additionally, 84 percent of U.S. Internet users conducted an online transaction in Q4 2010, which is up from 78 percent last year."
what were people buying? "For the quarter, the highest grossing product categories were Computer Software, Consumer Electronics, Books & Magazines (which exclude digital downloads), Computers/Peripherals/PDAs, and Toys and Hobbies. Each of the categories grew at least 15 percent in Q4 2010 vs. a year ago."
This is great news. People spending more means an increased confidence in the recovering economy, increased jobs, business owners are happy, manufacturers are happy, everyone wins.
I love reports of increased consumer confidence, and to know that they are spending more (yes, dad, as long as they are saving too), this makes everyone in a better mood. we, as people, do not like to know we do not have enough money to buy things, that doesn't necessarily mean spend frivolously, but to be able to purchase things that you might really need, and only slightly want. The average amount people planned to spend in the 2010 holiday season was up from 2009, but not to the 2008 levels or any other year since 2005. Analysts will be watching companies quarterly reports soon, especially companies like MasterCard to see what they report as active card holders use and increases.
Lets hope the confidence continues and people start spending everywhere not just online. More spending, means more advertising dollars are spent by companies.
