Holiday Sales Expectations Lowered - East Idaho News
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Holiday Sales Expectations Lowered

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Getty B 121410 HolidaySpending?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1356344892390Sean Gallup/Getty Images(CHICAGO) — Unless everyone and their uncle suddenly rush out and spend on Monday like there’s no tomorrow, holiday sales will be off considerably from what was predicted earlier in the season.

Chicago-based retail technology company ShopperTrak has said as much by lowering their forecast for holiday sales from a 3.3 percent increase compared to the same period in November and December of 2011, to 2.5 percent.

Much of the lowered prediction has to do with the effects Hurricane Sandy had in the Northeast as well as retailers deeply discounting items early on to generate as much interest in the holiday season as possible.

The particularly lengthy shopping season of 32 days between Black Friday and Christmas also seemed to compel shoppers to hold out longer for possible last-minute bargains.

One encouraging sign this season, according to ShopperTrak, is that retail foot traffic is up 2.8 percent this year compared to 2011 — the first such increase since 2008, when the Great Recession lowered the boom on shoppers.

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