Crunching the raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Retail Federation said that retail Holiday season sales grew an unexpectedly high 8.3% year-over-year to $789.4 billion. The number blew away pre-season estimates of a 3.6% to 5.2% gain, and was more than double the 3.5% average increase over the past five years, including 2019’s 4.0% jump. The NRF’s estimate of a 23.9% improvement in online sales was considerably lower than the 32% and 43% gains reported by Adobe Analytics and Salesforce, respectively.

Consumers’ bank accounts filled with money saved from travel, dining out and entertainment, combined with Covid-19 vaccine ... Log in to view full article.