Despite the Economic Strain of the Pandemic, Holiday Retail Sales are Expected to Grow

 

Despite a rough economic year for everyone, retail sales during the holidays are expected to keep pace, even surpass, growth trends of previous years. According to the Associated Press, the National Retail Federation made this prediction recently to account for the uncertainty of shutdowns caused by the pandemic. For essential businesses like big-box stores, sales growth during lockdown averaged 6.4% gain while non-essential stores forced to shutter during quarantine suffered a severe drop.

MarketScale Radio explores the current state of retail and consumer spending with hosts Daniel LItwin and Tyler Kern. Litwin looks at the unemployment numbers and puzzles where consumer dollars will enter the economy. Kern considers the retail giants that have pivoted to e-commerce and delivery. Regardless, the trickle-down benefits of holiday spending may not show up in local economies due to the success of big box stores and online shopping.

KEY POINTS:

  • NRF predicts sales for the November and December period will increase between 3.6% and 5.2%
  • Big Box stores see over 6% growth in sales during COVID lockdown.
  • Lack of spending on travel and entertainment leaves some discretionary income for holiday spending.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

transportation management
Transportation Management Systems Don’t Compete With Carriers, Brokers, or Shippers — They Align Them
February 10, 2026

Transportation management systems are undergoing a quiet but consequential shift. Once viewed primarily as tools for tracking loads and storing paperwork, modern TMS platforms are increasingly expected to function as the operational backbone of logistics organizations. As freight volumes continue to fluctuate, margins remain tight, and supply chains rely on a growing mix of…

Read More
AI adoption strategy
Five by Five Leadership: Why Purpose, Warmth, and Clarity Matter More Than Ever at Work
February 10, 2026

For the first time in history, workplaces now span five generations, forcing leaders to rethink long-standing assumptions about motivation, communication, and career growth. As Gen Z enters the workforce, they bring expectations shaped by a desire for meaningful work, clear development paths, and work-life balance—rather than traditional, one-size-fits-all career ladders. In an era marked…

Read More
Experiential
Scaling Experiential Learning at Slippery Rock University with Dr. John Rindy
February 9, 2026

Regional public universities are being asked to do more with fewer students, fewer dollars, and less margin for error—making student persistence, timely graduation, and career outcomes central institutional concerns. Under mounting enrollment pressure and a shifting labor market, experiential learning has moved from a “nice to have” to a strategic imperative. Research consistently shows…

Read More
data center workforce
The Next Data Center Bottleneck Isn’t Power or Cooling — It’s People: The Data Center Workforce
February 8, 2026

With the rapid rise of AI workloads, data centers are being built with higher power density, stricter reliability expectations, and cooling technologies that are evolving faster than most teams can adapt. As a result, these facilities aren’t just getting bigger—they’re becoming harder to operate, harder to staff, and far less forgiving when something goes…

Read More