While the country is still wading through the murky waters of an economic recession, some recent positive momentum has given major retailers heightened expectations for the upcoming holiday season.
According to U.S. News and World Report, average spending per person for the holidays is expected to reach $805.65 this year, up slightly from $802.45 in 2014. Experts say the uptick is mainly due to consumers having more disposable income this year than they have in the past decade.
“We continue to see positive momentum in retail sales growth, giving us reason to believe consumers will show up this holiday season as they look to take advantage of all of retailers’ promotional offerings,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation.
The increase in spending will mainly impact online retailers, who continue to see tremendous gains as shopping on the internet grows in popularity and accessibility.
Specifically, financial experts are saying that Amazon (AMZN), FedEx Corp. (FDX), United Parcel Services (UPS), and Expeditors International (EXPD) are the stocks to target for savvy investors as the holiday season approaches.
As consumers grow more and more tired of long lines at the mall, online shopping continues to become the primary option for many. Research from Juniper has shown that online and mobile purchases are expected to reach a whopping 125 billion transactions a year by 2018.
According to Spend Matters, U.S. online retail sales have increased 30% in the past year alone. Christmas shopping accounts for about 20% of total annual retail sales, and considering most of these holiday purchases are made online, it isn’t difficult to imagine companies like Amazon producing record-breaking sales numbers this year.
Hilary Kramer, editor of the Gamechangers stocks newsletter, believes that the instant gratification of online shopping is what draws so many young consumers to Amazon and other online retailers.
“This is the year of online retail. Millennials play a huge role in this. They grew up in a world where online shopping is normal,” said Kramer.
Those looking for extra Christmas cash would be wise to invest in Amazon and other major outlets now. It looks as though it will be a banner year for online retailers everywhere.
