Content about Customer Growth Partners

New Canaan, Conn. -- Retail sales will increase by 5.7% in 2012, according to a new report by Customer Growth Partners,  a consulting and research firm serving retailers, vendors and institutional investors.

The report, “The Great Consumer Reset/The Great Retail Reset,” finds that falling household and credit-debt levels, along with higher savings rates, are fueling consumer spending. 

New Canaan, Conn. -- Value-focused but financially healthier American consumers will propel 2011 holiday sales to a record $554 billion, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners’ 10th annual holiday forecast. The forecast, which is significantly more upbeat than other holiday surveys, predicts total retail sales growth of 6.5% for the November-December period over last year, the most rapid growth since 6.9% in 2004 — and over twice consensus forecasts called for lackluster growth of only 2.5%-3%.

With gloomy consumer sentiment surveys reflecting dysfunction in both Wall Street and Washington, stagnant GDP growth, stubborn 9% unemployment and the ongoing housing slump, most experts are calling for a conservative holiday season.

The retail industry will grow by 5.1% in 2011, the strongest growth in five years, according to Customer Growth Partners 2011 Forecast and Outlook. The New Canaan, Conn.-based consulting and research firm projects that the industry will create over half a million new jobs in 2011, the most of any employment sector, and that retail sales will reach a record level of almost $2.9 trillion.

Holiday shoppers continued to unleash three years of pent-up demand as the season winds up, on their way to setting a new record of over $521B, blasting through 2007’s pre-recession record of $508 billion, according to Customer Growth Partners. Based on CGP’s proprietary mall surveys and government retail data -- and despite Sunday’s Northeast blizzard -- the sales growth confirmed CGP’s +5% holiday sales forecast. [CGP’s data include e-commerce, unlike NRF, which excludes the same.]

New York City -- Holiday retail sales will grow by a strong 4.5% [+/- 0.5%] year-over-year to a record $519 billion, according to retail consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners, New Canaan, Conn.

By Craig Johnson, johnson@customergrowthpartners.com

After the steepest sales slump in decades, the once-sputtering retail economy is coming back to life. And it may be coming back most strongly closest to home: the home-furnishings and home-improvement sectors.