If you spent Christmas day with an opulent pile of presents at your feet and you’re feeling kind of guilty about it, don’t. Analysts say that spending at luxury retailers during the holiday season helped spurn consumer confidence amongst all income levels.
What does that mean, exactly? It means that spending and consumer confidence, as evidenced by holiday shopping, are up to their highest levels since the beginning of the recession. The effect is across the board, but it all started in the luxury markets. The way analysts see it, luxury retailers saw increases first, and eventually the gains spread to mid- and uppertier consumer markets.
Part of the increase is due to what economists call pent up demand. In plain English, consumers have been waiting and waiting to buy, until finally, this holiday season, they’ve returned eagerly to the malls in droves. Increases surpassed even generous expectations. Seriously, is there any better Christmas gift than a stabilizing economy? That’s something we can all unwrap.