IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
National retail sales experienced only a slight bump last week, the second full week of the holiday shopping season.
Sales were up 1.1 percent year-over-year for the week that ended Saturday, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, which was released Tuesday.
Compared with the previous week, the news was a little better, as sales jumped a solid, though not spectacular, three percent.
The U.S. retail market was behaving a little erratically as it headed into the second half of the Christmas shopping season, but a spokesman for the council believes there’s an explanation for that.
“The weekly volatility reflects the increased promotional activity of the season,” said Michael P. Niemira, research consultant with the council, in a statement. “Consumers actually reported being considerably behind on their shopping compared to the same week last year, so the last few shopping days prior to Christmas should be robust.”
The New York-based council has predicted a four percent increase in sales this year compared with last year’s holiday shopping season.
