Retail group projects 5.4 percent increase in Nevada holiday sales

The Retail Association of Nevada on Wednesday said it projects a 5.4 percent increase in statewide holiday sales this year, topping national estimates.

Nationwide, holiday sales expectations are more modest, with Gallup and the National Retail Fedeation, respectively, projecting a 3 percent and 4.1 percent increase.

Bryan Wachter, senior vice president the retail group, said that strong retail sales in Nevada — and first-time sales figures from Amazon — contributed to a stronger statewide projection.

“Year-to-date, traditional consumer retail sales in Nevada increased 7.3 percent, compared to 3.7 percent nationwide, which contributed to more optimistic projections for our state,” he said in a statement.

“Nevada taxable sales data shows an especially large increase in sales from nonstore retailers (up 59 percent year-to-date). The increase in taxable sales reported is because of Amazon reporting its sales and remitting appropriate sales tax. These sales were unreported in the state prior to January 1.

“Statewide holiday sales projections were adjusted to account for this effect,” he also said.

In its statement, the retail group reported that from Thanksgiving Day through Nov. 30, there were an estimated 133.7 million unique holiday shoppers, down 5.2 percent from the 141.1 million unique shoppers reported in 2013. And nonunique shoppers — those who made multiple trips to stores — totaled 233.3 million during the same period, down 6.2 percent from the 248.6 million non-unique shoppers reported last year

Average spending on Thanksgiving weekend declined 6.4 percent this year to $380.95 per person. Nationwide, total sales fell 11.3 percent to an estimated $50.9 billion.

Fewer online shoppers were expected on Cyber Monday, with the Nevada retail trade group reporting that 126.9 million consumers planned to make a purchase that day, down 3.6 percent from 131.6 million last year. Despite fewer shoppers, ComScore Inc. reported that online sales from a desktop computer reached a record $2 billion on Cyber Monday this year, which is up 17 percent from 2013, not including sales from a mobile device.

But ComScore Inc. also noted that growth in Cyber Monday sales has been slowing slightly in recent years, as consumers take advantage of early deals from Amazon, eBay, Wal-Mart, Target and other online retailers.

ComScore reported that from Nov. 1 through Cyber Monday, online sales reached $26.7 billion in 2014, an increase of 16 percent from the same period a year earlier.

National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay, in the statement, said that the lackluster Thanksgiving holiday weekend is not indicative of a bad holiday season. He noted there were three factors at work this year:

■ Holiday sales and holiday shopping began well before the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

■ A healthier economy allowed consumers greater freedom in choosing what days to shop.

■ Consumers knew that they could get deals well before and well after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Combined, Shay said these factors suggest consumers are turning to other days during the holiday season to make their purchases.

Other sources, including The Wall Street Journal, are reporting that not only are sales shifting to more nontraditional retail gifts such as spa services and golf lessons — more “experience-based” gifts — but purchases such as gift cards, which are popular among many gift-givers, are generally not measured as revenue by the retailer until they are used.