National Retail Federation Forecasts Holiday Sales to Increase 3.7%

The National Retail Federation (NRF) announced today it expects sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales) to increase a solid 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion, significantly higher than the 10-year average of 2.5 percent. Holiday sales in 2015 are expected to represent approximately 19 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. Additionally, NRF is forecasting online sales to increase between 6 percent and 8 percent to as much as $105 billion.