Early Holiday Sales Predictions Offer Mixed News for Retailers

Total retail sales for the holiday season of November and December will grow by 3.1% in 2017 to $929.15 billion, according to data from eMarketer. That sounds like good news, but it's actually less than the 4.5% growth experienced during last year's holiday season. It's not that people are shopping less or not buying as much. Instead, sales totals are being driven down by increased discounting.

This holiday season growth rate is also below the expected 3.8% that retail sales are expected to grow in the United States for the full year. Again, that's due at least in part to intense competition between retailers driving prices lower.

Discounting is expected to be a theme. Image source: Getty Images.

Source: Fool.com