ICSC_LogoGrowth of retail sales this festive season have slowed due to fears of an expected “fiscal cliff,” as well as other factors according to some reports. Spending Pulse, MasterCard advisers, are estimating that the holiday sales in these two months (November, December) increased by 0.7 percent more than last year. The company had indicated a 2% growth last year. There are fears of impending economic hardship that will result from Washington’s failure to determine spending cuts and tax increases. Hurricane Sandy’s impact also slowed sales, as the storm hit densely populated areas of the Northeast region and caused a lot of damage. Many stores were closed at the height of the storm, though many reopened soon after. The areas affected are the highest spending areas in the country. Other reports by organizations that monitor retail spending also reduced the estimates they had made of holiday sales during the few days before Christmas. Initial projections painted a rosy picture of the sales expected and predicted strong sales and good Thanksgiving weekend retail sales.

The ICSC-Goldman Sachs sales index of the International Council of Shopping Centers said that the sales might increase, though there was a lull in spending for the 2 weeks after Thanksgiving. The ICSC gave an estimate of a rise in sales by 4.5 percent two weeks ago, which ended on December 15th compared with the week before. A full report by the International Council of Shopping Centers will be released on Wednesday that gives the information that will have been gathered about this holiday season and sales and performance during this period.

Many organizations had predicted high holiday sales, but with fiscal cliff fears and other factors, there may be some chance of estimates not meeting the mark.