Strong Economy Leads To Rising Holiday Shopping Numbers And Self-Gifting

Posted

shopping-bag-concept

Florida - Official numbers aren't in yet, but officials with the Florida Retail Federation say they think holiday shopping numbers were up by about 4% and self-gifting was at a record high.

"The shopping season in Florida was very good this year," said James Miller, Communications Director for the Florida Retail Federation. "As we've seen the last few years, online shopping continues to be more and more prevalent. People are taking advantage of being able to shop whenever and wherever." In fact, national online shopping numbers were up by more than 20%.

According to Miller, Black Friday 2 years ago was the 1st time they saw online shopping exceed brick and mortar shopping. "That was kind of our 1st real indication that this is for real, this isn't going anywhere," said Miller. "If anything it's just going to continue to increase and we don't anticipate it slowing down at all going forward."

A lot of things are contributing to these rising shopping figures like a strong housing market, an 8-year low unemployment rate, and high consumer confidence. "You're seeing people feeling better about their personal financial situation, they're feeling better about their job, they're feeling better about everything that's going on in their life right now," says Miller. "As a result, it's a little more easy to spend money on gifts for themselves and others." In fact, this year saw record numbers for self-gifting. On average, shoppers spent about $140 on self-gifting this holiday season - showing just how confident people are in the economy.

Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2016.