Thousands of Americans still cannot find jobs. Despite the positive signs from the holiday shopping season, major retailers and stores are still not hiring many new people. A leading economist analyzed the holiday shopping numbers and found two major trends in the economy. While retail sales increased tremendously, consumers tried to find the best deal and were willing to shop around until they found the store that had the lowest price. The second trend indicated was that consumers are still wary about the economy regarding major purchases. Auto sales were not back to the 2005 levels and were well below expected levels. However, the positive signs indicate an improving economy that could potentially lead to more business and jobs in the next coming years.

The holiday shopping season is over and millions of Americans will go back to being unemployed. Throughout the season major retailers offer temporary jobs in their stores such as security guards, extra cashiers, and some stores offer free wrapping stations for shoppers. Wal-Mart for example, employs an extra 35-40 security guards and 50 cashiers at each store. The jobs may be temporary but many of those jobs provide much needed financial help for cash strapped Americans.

The blizzard that created havoc in the south not only paralyzed travel but last minute Christmas Shopping. Many shops and stores in the south just didn’t open because owners and employees were unable to get to work. The retail stores that were open found little to no shoppers and put a bitter end to what was an excellent shopping season for stores. One Target store in North Carolina did not close and an employee counted 40 shoppers throughout the whole day. Retailers are hoping to make up for the missed sales this week.

With the large success of the Christmas shopping season, retails are looking to cash in further with extended promotions. Stores are hoping that consumers will take advantage of extended discounts throughout January to start off the New Year with a bang. Many online stores are still offering free shipping for almost any order and retail stores are looking to cash in by offering 30-40% off many items. Also now is the best time to stock up on holiday items for next year with Christmas items such as wrapping paper, discounted up to 90% off in certain stores.

Finally, retail sales are showing signs of life for the economy. Excluding automobiles, retail sales totaled $584 billion dollars from November 5th-December 24th. This is a 5.5% increase from last year. Business has finally been good for beaten-down retailers however they are hoping that continued sales promotions will continue decent sales. So what have we learned this year? The American consumer is willing to spend a little more money but mainly shops at stores that offer the deepest discounts. This doesn’t mean that thousands of jobs will immediate come back but it’s definitely a strong sign of improvement.

Most men wait til the last minute to shop, and guess what they shop for? Jewelry!, most men don’t waste any time and jewelry is the easiest thing to get their wives and or their girlfriends. It’s quick and painless! Two days before christmas, sales do go up loudly from men who wait til the last minute.

Alot more consumers who are traveling abroad shop at the airport luxury duty free shops. In most case’s women win when they purchase from duty free shops, from frangrance to make up.

Many big time retailers are getting on Facebook to promote christmas ads to lure more online customers. It is prime retail advertising site that lures many facebook members to check out new deals that retailers are offering this christmas year.

I guess a lot of consumers learned the hard lesson the past couple of years. Most consumers will be on a budget this year paying only by cash on what they can afford. Most credit card companies are giving out very lucrative offers when you use their credit cards to charge on holiday items. But retail customers are getting smarter and only using cash on things they can afford.

Many online retailers are now sending out orders international. A lot more retailers will start doing the same as it enters the international online market for shipping. You will gain more customers that way, with the US Dollar weak, more consumers from outside the USA will save if their currency is currently stronger than the US.