The US 2024 retail holiday season results topped expectations with core retail sales escalating to an unprecedented $994.1bn, according to data released by the US Census Bureau.

This surge in US 2024 retail holiday sales, denotes a 4% increment compared to the preceding year and has surpassed the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) anticipations, underscoring the sector’s robustness amid challenging fiscal conditions. 

During the November-December holiday period, clothing and clothing accessory stores reported a 2.8% rise.  

Sales at general merchandise vendors increased by 2.4%, transactions at health and personal care outlets grew by 3% and furniture and home décor stores experienced a 5.6% boost in sales. 

National Retail Federation (NRF) chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said: “Consumers came out to spend this holiday season and clearly underscored the solid growth in the US economy. The spending pace was back to pre-pandemic growth and indicates a good start for the year ahead. While the shorter holiday shopping calendar likely influenced the continued trend of more online shopping, there was also a return to in-person shopping experiences and a focus on early buying.  

“The 2024 figures were driven in part by lower inflation compared with 2023, particularly for goods. Even though consumers are still relatively healthy and there was a notable increase in spending, they remain budget conscious.” 

The NRF, which had projected a holiday sales increase in the range of 2.5% to 3.5%, found itself outpaced as the figures soared beyond the former peak of $955.6bn established in 2023.  

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The federation’s estimations, which exclude automobile dealerships, gasoline stations, and dining establishments to concentrate on core retail components, encompass the period from 1 November through 31 December 2024. 

An analysis of the holiday period further showed that retail sales experienced an increase in seven out of nine categories compared to the previous year. Notable growth was observed in segments such as online, furniture retailers, and electronics and appliance outlets. 

A significant driver of this growth was non-store and online sales, which witnessed an 8.6% ascent to $296.7bn, closely mirroring NRF’s prediction of an 8-9% rise for this category. For context, online sales during the corresponding festive span in 2023 tallied at $273.3bn.  

Furthermore, the aggregate core retail sales for 2024 reached a new peak at $5.28bn, aligning with the upper echelon of NRF’s forecasted annual growth range of 2.5-3.5%. This figure marks a substantial climb from the $5.1tn in total sales recorded in 2023. 

December’s standalone performance was also significant, with core retail sales (excluding autos, gas, and restaurants) experiencing a month-over-month augmentation of 0.4% when seasonally adjusted and a year-over-year proliferation of 4.2%.  

This boost was partly attributed to the late Thanksgiving in 2024, which transposed key shopping days into December. 

The Census Bureau’s announcement corroborated these findings, indicating that overall retail sales in December saw a month-over-month uptick of 0.4% when seasonally adjusted and a year-over-year swell of 3.9%. These figures compare favourably with November’s month-over-month growth of 0.8% and year-over-year expansion of 4.1%. 

On the employment front, NRF’s Holiday Jobs Forecast was on target with retailers hiring around 438,000 seasonal workers during November and December, consistent with NRF’s projected range of between 400,000 to 500,000 seasonal hires. 

The US apparel sector recorded a 3.6% uptick in sales during the festive period spanning 1 November to 24 December 2024, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.