The Christmas shopping season in the US retail industry is a bit sad, with growth at its lowest level since the financial crisis

This year, for the U.S. retail industry, the Christmas shopping season seems a bit sad, the growth is almost the lowest level after the financial crisis. And in a disappointment, online shopping, especially mobile-side shopping, has become the only bright spot.

The weekend before Christmas (Friday to Sunday, Four days) is another peak point in the Christmas shopping season. Retail passenger flow monitoring agency ShopperTrak released data in Monday, the weekend, the real store sales fell 3.1% year-on-year, the passenger traffic decline is as high as 21%.

But online shopping is another fiery scene. According to IBM statistics, the weekend before Christmas, the United States online retail sales soared 37% Year-on-year, where the mobile-side shopping flow accounted for two-fifths of the online traffic. In addition, mobile-side shopping spending grew by as much as 53% per cent year-on-year, accounting for 21.5% of all online retailing.

Like Black Friday, the last weekend before Christmas is one of the four peaks in the Christmas shopping season, ShopperTrak said.

According to Custorapulse company of more than 100 U.S. retailers statistics, from December 15 to December 18, online sales increased by 13%, online passenger flow increased by 23%.

However, it should be pointed out that, although online shopping popular, but from the shopping expenditure comparison, physical retail still occupy the bulk. The US retail Alliance predicts that all retail sales for U.S. retailers in November and December, including physical stores and online sales, are expected to reach $602 billion trillion, but online sales are expected to be $82 billion trillion, accounting for 13.6% of all sales.

Industry insiders believe that this year has undoubtedly suffered a disappointing Christmas shopping season. The retail market regulator, Retailmetrics, said in Tuesday that its 120 retail chain brands, with an average growth of 1.9% in the four quarter, were the weakest increase since the three quarter of 2009. In addition, retailers ' profit growth was only 1.3%, the weakest since the third quarter of 2009. According to the agency, the data show that US retailers are still struggling to "crawl out" of the Great Depression after the financial crisis.

"For almost all retailers, the past Christmas season has been very disappointing," said Ken-perkins, head of the city's regulator. He said the most affected commodities include specialized goods, youth apparel, and other department stores such as Sears and J.c.penney, which have been the hardest hit.

"Half-price discounting has become the entry level," says Simeon-siegel, an analyst at Nomura Securities, in a research note. abercrombie& Fitch has a discount of 50 percent to 70 percent, and Gap's brand, Oldnavy, began a "big promotion after the festival" last Saturday (before Christmas). "Few retailers are able to escape the low margin pressure from high discounts," says Siegel. ”

Until Christmas comes the last minute, many retailers are doing everything they can to boost sales, while Wal-Mart and Amazon are still promoting their gift cards, while Target and other department stores are encouraging people to buy items on the Internet in physical stores.

According to a survey by the Goldman Sachs Group and the International Shopping Center Council, 31% of consumers are still willing to go shopping on Christmas Eve in Tuesday.

Since gift cards are not counted in real retail size until they are actually cashed, the current gift card sales Climax will drive the retail volume after Christmas. According to industry sources, many consumers will use the Christmas season saved gift cards (similar vouchers), to buy the spring market does not discount new products.