National Retail Federation Predicts Very Jolly Christmas Season
Shopping projections for the holiday season predict the highest retail sales numbers on record.
“The National Retail Federation recently reported that holiday sales should increase between 8.5-10.5 percent from last year,” said Mitch Gould, founder and CEO of Nutritional Products International, a global brand management firm based in Boca Raton, Fl. “This is the boost that retailers have needed ever since COVID-19 began.”
The NRF estimates that holiday shopping sales should hit between $843.4 and $859 billion. To put the projections into perspective, annual retail sales increases for the holidays have averaged 4.4 percent for the past five years. Despite the pandemic, holiday retail sales have continued to grow from $718.6 billion in 2019 to $777.3 billion in 2020.
“Now, according to the NRF, we are blasting past previous highs,” Gould said.
Holiday shopping, which began much earlier this year because of concerns raised by COVID-19, gave retailers a lot to celebrate on Black Friday.
“Although some retailers began advertising discounts on their websites in October, Black Friday sales numbers are looking better than good,” Gould said. “While in-person shopping didn’t reach pre-pandemic numbers, shoppers started returning to the stores last weekend.”
The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, reported almost 100,000 shoppers Friday afternoon, just shy of pre-pandemic 2019 numbers and more than double from 2020.
Black Friday retail sales surged almost 30 percent through mid-afternoon, which was above the 20 percent projections for the day.
Steve Sadove, a senior advisor for Mastercard, credited the strong sales numbers to the “strength of the consumer.”
Even with the return of in-store shopping, online sales, which increased dramatically during the pandemic, showed continued strength.
“After two years of COVID-19, consumers are returning to brick-and-mortar retail outlets, but online holiday sales are continuing to grow larger,” Gould said, adding that Adobe Digital Economy Index predicts 10 percent growth this year.
Gould and Nutritional Products International work daily with health and wellness brands, both domestic and international, that want to launch or expand the distribution of their products in the U.S.
Gould developed the “Evolution of Distribution” to help product manufacturers find success in the American market.
“With the ‘Evolution of Distribution,’ NPI brings all the professional services brands need to sell their products in the U.S. under one roof,” Gould said. “We become the U.S. headquarters for many of these companies.”
Gould said NPI offers sales, logistics, regulatory compliance, and marketing services to its clients.
“We do everything from importing products to placing the products with retailers,” Gould added.
For more information, visit Nutritional Products International online.
MORE ON NPI AND ITS FOUNDER
NPI is a privately-held company that specializes in the retail distribution of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, functional beverages, and skin-care products. NPI offers a unique, proven approach for product manufacturers worldwide seeking to launch or expand the distribution of their products in the U.S. retail market.
Mitch Gould, the founder of NPI, is a third-generation retail distribution and manufacturing professional. Gould, known as a global marketing guru, has represented icons from the sports and entertainment worlds such as Steven Seagal, Hulk Hogan, Ronnie Coleman, Roberto Clemente Jr., Chuck Liddell, and Wayne Gretzky.
