Feelin’ Alright: Holiday Results, So Far So Good

Early retail sales results on the still-in-progress 2019 holiday season spell a good outcome living up to expectations. On Thursday, Amazon said it had its best Christmas ever, and the Mastercard SpendingPulse Holiday report indicated that holiday sales increased 3.4 percent and online sales alone grew 18.8 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 compared with 2018. Mastercard’s figures excludes auto sales. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the biggest volume periods of the year, some say the third or fourth largest, next to the two weeks leading up to Christmas and the Black Friday-Cyber Monday stretch. Retailers are expecting big business through New Year’s and the week after, with stores and brands really ramping up on the discounting on Thursday, often up to 50, 60 and 70 percent on many items. There were plenty of “sale on sales” offerings with an extra 20 to 30 percent off already discounted merchandise and a plethora of clearance events. Ross Stores launched its year-end clearance; Kate Spade was up to 65 percent off. Shopbop was 70 percent off, and Joe Fresh had a “Boxing Week” clearance for up to 50 percent off. “E-commerce sales hit a record high this year with more

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