Christmas is the most beloved festival in the USA, and this is the time when people go out of the way to celebrate it with their loved ones. According to conventional wisdom, the Holiday quarter is the most important one for all the retailers around the USA, and they are looking forward to it with very high hopes. Since people of America love celebrating Christmas more than we can imagine, even Covid-19 won’t be an excuse for them to not celebrate it this year.
Although there won’t be as larger gatherings as they used to be but in terms of shopping, National Retail Federation says that the nation is expected to spend around $755 to $767 billion in the months of November and December. Despite the pandemic, Americans will not stop distributing gifts on the holy festival. As per the studies, the average expenditure on gifts and other holiday stuff per consumer amounts to $998.
But, is the holiday quarter enough for the retailers to make or break their whole year? Well, not every retailer gets the same amount of sales; the US Census Bureau published retail sales figures that show not every type of retailer is reliant on the holiday quarter. Depending on what the retailer is selling, some types of retailers are more dependent on these two or three holiday months.
If we distribute the retail sales throughout the year evenly, the holiday quarter will not account for more than 25 percent of total annual sales. However, according to the infographic, the majority of the retailers get their sales way more than 25 percent. Toys and games stores get the highest retail sales (34.9 percent) during the fourth quarter as they are the most bought items on Christmas sales. On the second comes jewelry stores with an overall sale of 34.7 percent in the last quarter, which is pretty much justified as jewelry items such as earrings, necklaces, rings, etc., are the most gifted items on Christmas year over year.
According to the chart, the holiday quarter only accounted for 26.8 percent in the previous year, which is not as much that one should rely on this quarter.
Infographic by: Statista.com
