Census: Holiday Season Drives Retail Industry
by January 6, 2014 12:00 am 59 views
The U.S. Census recently released its 2013 holiday “Fact for Features” list of numbers that quantify the impact of year-end retail sales and related activity.
For example, nearly 15 billion pieces of mail were expected to be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, with the busiest mailing day being Dec. 16 and the busiest delivery day being Dec. 18.
According to the Census, the nation’s department stores had an estimated $25.9 billion in retail sales last December, and about $39.2 billion in retail sales were generated in the same month by online and mail-order houses.
The Census estimates that about 13.9 percent of 2012 retail sales by department stores were generated in December, and that there are nearly 24,000 online shopping and mail-order houses that employ more than 321,000 people.