We’ve spent the past year writing and talking about self-service business intelligence and analytics, spreading our message of embedded BI. But now we want to wish you the gift of good cheer and a beautiful holiday season.
Before you return to the egg nog and the rest of your holiday feast, here are some statistics and data about the holiday season. Since all of the data for 2015 hasn’t been collected yet, as it’s still being created, let’s take a look at what the U.S. Census Bureau calculated for 2014.
Holiday Shopping
$24.5 billion
Estimated retail sales by the nation’s department stores (including leased departments) in December 2014. This represents an estimated 41.2 percent jump from the previous month when retail sales were estimated at $17.3 billion. No other estimated month-to-month increase in department store sales last year was as large.
14.2%
The estimated percentage of total 2014 sales for department stores (including leased departments) in December. For jewelry stores, the estimated percentage was 18.2 percent.
21.7%
The estimated growth in inventories by U.S. department stores (excluding leased departments) from Aug. 31 to Nov. 30, 2014.
$48.3 billion
Estimated value of retail sales by electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December 2014 — the highest estimated total for any month last year.
31,112
The number of electronic shopping and mail-order houses in business in 2013. These businesses, which employed 383,066 workers in the pay period including March 12, are a popular source of holiday gifts.
Christmas Trees and Decorations
$1.2 billion
The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and September 2015. China was the leading country of origin for such items. Similarly, China was the leading foreign source of artificial Christmas trees shipped to the United States ($163.3 million worth) during the same period.
567
Estimated number of U.S. producers who grew poinsettias in 2014. California, North Carolina and Florida ranked in the top three for sales of the popular holiday plant.