Holiday retail sales increased 5.5% in 2017

Holiday retail sales during November and December of 2017 increased 5.5 percent over the same period in 2016 to $691.9 billion as growing wages, stronger employment and higher confidence led consumers to spend more than had been expected, according to the National Retail Federation. The number, which excludes restaurants, automobile dealers and gasoline stations, includes $138.4 billion in online and other non-store sales, which were up 11.5 percent over the year before.

December alone was up 0.4 percent seasonally adjusted from November and up 4.6 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

The results exceeded NRF’s forecast of between $678.75 billion and $682 billion, which would have been an increase of between 3.6 and 4 percent, and marked the largest increase since the 5.2 percent year-over-year gain seen in 2010 after the end of the Great Recession.

NRF said the strong numbers are evidence the retail industry may be more fundamentally resilient than many analys