Content about Christmas music

NEW YORK — Consumers continued to shop online in ever-increasing numbers this holiday season, according to Chase Holiday Pulse, an aggregator of payment processing data from 50 of Chase Paymentech's largest U.S. e-commerce merchants. Pulse results showed YTD year-over-year sales growth of 15.2%.

For the overall holiday season, Oct. 29 through Dec. 25, the Pulse analysis also revealed transaction growth was up 24.3% YoY, while the average ticket price number continued to decline by 7.3% YoY.

NEW YORK — More consumers plan to spend more on holiday shopping this year than last, according to a new Nielsen survey.

According to the "Nielsen Holiday Survey," 54% of consumers stated they still haven't started their holiday shopping. The weekly survey polled 1,100 households starting in September, and the market research company releases results weekly. Respondents said their top destinations for holiday shoppings would be supercenters, departments stores and the Internet.

CHICAGO — Holiday shoppers continued their quest for the perfect gifts during the week ended Dec. 8, according to ShopperTrak. Consumer activity drove a 7.8% increase in foot traffic and 6.5% increase in sales from the previous week.

ARLINGTON, Va. — More than half of U.S. adults plan to buy holiday gifts during Thanksgiving weekend, according to a new survey from the Consumer Electronics Association.

The survey found that 60% will buy gifts during Black Friday weekend, with the average adult planning to spend $218 between Thursday and Monday, compared with $159 last year. At the same time, the "fiscal cliff" may affect their holiday spending. Overall, consumers plan to spend $842 on gifts this year.

NEW YORK — Smartphones may be among retailers’ strongest allies this holiday season, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends released Monday.

 SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — According to Nielsen analyses issued Thursday, higher consumer confidence levels, increased impulse buying and consumer intent to spend more could all lead to an upside surprise in 2012 holiday spending. 

For sales in 89 categories across five key departments (food, beverages, alcohol, health/beauty and homecare), Nielsen is forecasting spending for November and December 2012 to reach $98.3 billion. Nielsen expects dollar sales to increase 2.3% and unit sales to remain generally flat (0.1%). 

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid is gearing up for the holiday season with the new JulieG Holiday Collection by Jesse’s Girl Cosmetics.

This limited-edition line of five festive nail colors was designed and inspired by top YouTube beauty vlogger Julie Gutierrez (JulieG713).


The JulieG Holiday Collection has a suggested retail price of $3.99 and will be available Nov. 1 at Rite Aid stores and at Jessesgirlcosmetics.com.
 

SAN FRANCISCO — A new survey conducted by Visa revealed that 77% of consumers still need to buy holiday gifts this week. These last-minute shoppers will spend an average of $278 in the final days leading up to Christmas and Hanukkah.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Friday announced that its stores will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Through Dec. 23, most Walgreens locations will be open until midnight, the company stated. On Christmas Eve, nearly all stores will be open regular hours — pharmacies will be open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. — and on Christmas Day, non-24 hour stores will be open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. while all 24-hour stores and pharmacies will continue to remain open around the clock.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The recession grinch may have to pack it up this holiday season, as initial spending indicated that this year's holidays are on track toward some pretty significant growth as compared with last year.

(THE NEWS: Black Friday proves to be record day for retail, NRF reports. For the full story, click here.)

WASHINGTON — Despite continued economic uncertainty, more Americans are expected to choose family over finances, resulting in first significant increase in any holiday travel this year, AAA announced Thursday.

AAA forecasts 42.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a 4% increase from people who traveled one year ago. This is the first significant increase in any holiday travel this year.

NEW YORK — Despite concerns about the economy and rising household expenses, nearly 3-out-of-5 consumers (59%) will put aside economic worries and spend the same or more this holiday season, according to Deloitte’s 26th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends. While this is a slight decline from 2010, it represents an eight percentage point increase from 2009.