The sales forecast excludes spending at automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants.
So far, though, figures from Adobe Analytics showed that online spending hit record highs on key days during the holiday shopping weekend.NRF said Tuesday that its tally of shoppers over the holiday weekend topped last year's turnout of 179 million during the same period last year.While retailers may have most of their holiday merchandise, he said a work stoppage could be a blow to consumer confidence.
"We think that the holiday season would be the worst possible time," he said.