U.S. holiday retail sales 2023 is projected to rebound.

Amid the challenges in global economies, particularly in the fashion industry and the retail markets, there has been a breath of fresh air as projections indicate an uptick in U.S. retail sales in November-December 2023.
 
Though the retail sales keep struggling throughout the current year as of October, the National Retail Federation of the United States forecasts extraordinary holiday spending for rest of the year, as sales may grow by 3%-4% year-on-year. As per the NRF’s reports, U.S. retails sales in 2023 may hit a growth beyond the level of pre-pandemic average. Despite the increase in online sales, the growth of store opening has outpaced closings in 2022. The following article would be useful –
 
https://nrf.com/research/monthly-economic-review-november-2023
 
Well, the U.S. import of apparel has been showing a depressing outlook, so far, during January-September 2023. In fact as per the EPB data, which I used share with you regularly, our RMG export to USA during January-October 2023 has also fallen by 8.39%. Since our total RMG export is having a slow-down in October and November, we hope that it will bounce back from December as the retail sales projection shows. Particularly, the excess inventory has been a major challenge for the retailers, which is expected to be cleared during the ongoing holiday season to a greater extent. If things go as per the projection, this will help to end the slowdown in U.S. apparel imports from the beginning of 2024. Furthermore, as the inflation rate is getting under control, it is expected that the interest rate will be lowered in the U.S. soon, this will positively impact spending and retail sales.
 
However, the unforeseen happenings to be also factored in. The Israel-Hamas war is a great concern for us as it may potentially distort trade and economy. Therefore, we need to keep monitoring the developments in the retail markets closely.