Retailers bracing up for big holiday season; hiring in full swing

By Money Times

Nov 11, 2015 08:01 PM EST

US retailers have started flexing their muscles to meet the buying demand during the forthcoming holiday season. Retailers such as Amazon have started hiring in number running over thousands.

Generally, the big holiday season in the fourth quarter will make the most of the yearly sales volume. The hiring of people on a full-time basis is also increasing and industry analysts forecast that this time it would be highest in the past nine years.

Over half of the retailers are planning to recruit part-time workers for the holiday season. It's estimated that the hiring would be 43 percent more than last year's season. 

American consumers are back to spending. The world's largest retailer Amazon is planning to recruit 100,000 on a part-time basis for holiday seasons. Before the season, Amazon has hired 25,000 on a full-time basis. This indicates a positive trend in the retailing segment.

According to National Retail Federation, the retail sales excluding cars, gas and restaurants, this holiday season will be 3.7 percent up. This is higher than the 10-year average rise of 2.5 percent.

CareerBuilder.com forecasts the robust hiring for theholiday season indicates undercurrent potential in the US consumer market. The full-time hiring is also encouraging as it could be strongest since 2006, predicts CareerBuilder.com.

The confidence mainly emerging from big-ticket buying by Americans has already started in the retail market. Car sales rose in October indicated the highest sales volume in 2015 so far.

Spending at restaurants has also gone up 8.5 percent. These factors are highlighting that Americans have finally started spending their savings, thanks to lower gas prices. 

The wage growth in October was best in 2015 and this is also fuelling spending capacity of Americans. Shoppers have now more to spend and Americans are back to spending.

The potential spending for this holiday season will give a clear picture about the US economy. The US consumers are a major part of the world's largest economy.

American Association of Railroads says that there's increased activity in shipments. The shipments on rail, truck and ship are up for this holiday season. The high expectation on buying potential during the holiday season is propelling retailers to ship more goods than ever. 

The surge in real wages and drop in unemployment are adding to robust retail activity this holiday season, according to eMarketer, which forecasts retail growth over five percent during November and December.

There's increased interest in spending in the US market. Contrary to the previous forecast about e-Commerce sales, now analysts see encouraging sales volume this season. 

The US economy depends upon more on consumer spending. The ongoing global economy slowdown is impacting the US trade and manufacturing activity. Some economists say that the US consumers are the last hope of defense to prevent a global recession.

The market research analysts also feel that the US is depending upon its consumers to prevent global economy from slipping into recession.

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