It’s better to give: The cost of six geese-a-laying spiked considerably this year, while most of the items in the classic carol The Twelve Days of Christmas saw little to no increase, according to the 31st annual PNC Wealth Management Christmas Price Index. A set of gifts in each verse of the song would set you back $27,673 in stores, an increase of less than $300—or about 1%—from last year. Buyers looking to purchase all the items each time they were mentioned in the song—364 that is—would spend $116,273, an increase of 1.4% from a year ago. The Associated Press has the full story.
Not feeling it anymore: Americans were apparently less enthusiastic about Black Friday this year. The New York Times reports sales, both in stores and online, from Thanksgiving through the weekend were estimated to have dropped 11%, to $50.9 billion, from $57.4 billion last year, according to preliminary survey results released Sunday by the National Retail Federation. Over all, 133.7 million people shopped or planned to shop at stores or online over the four-day weekend, 5.2% fewer than last year, the federation says. Read the full story.
Here’s the deal: The trend of lower holiday sales that began in stores and online over the Thanksgiving weekend is expected to continue into Cyber Monday today. The National Retail Federation expects about 127 million people to shop online Monday, down from about 131 million who planned to shop online last year on the nation’s busiest online shopping day. NRF CEO Matthew Shay attributes the shift in shopping patterns to the fact that some consumers may feel better about the economy and are less frantic about chasing deals, combined with shoppers recognizing they can get online deals all season long. USA Today has the full story.
