Rising inflation may put a damper on holiday shopping activity. Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 4 percent and 6 percent in 2022, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast. Overall, Deloitte’s retail and consumer products practice predicts that holiday sales will total $1.45 to $1.47 trillion during the November to January timeframe. In 2021, holiday sales grew by 15.1 percent in the same period.

Deloitte also forecasts ecommerce sales will grow by 12.8 percent to 14.3 percent year-over-year during the 2022–2023 holiday season. This will likely result in ecommerce holiday sales reaching between $260 billion and $264 billion this season.

“The lower projected growth for the 2022 holiday season reflects the slowdown in the economy this year. Retail sales are likely to be further affected by declining demand for durable consumer goods, which had been the centerpiece of pandemic spending. However, we anticipate more spending on consum