NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. retail consultants said stores kept inventory tight for holiday shopping and have little to offer, post-Christmas Day, in the way of blow-out bargains.
"Retailers were prepared. They put out what they wanted to sell and promoted it," said Jackie Fernandez, retail industry expert at accounting firm Deloitte, The Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
"Retailers are probably very happy with the way the holiday turned out," she said.
Retail consultant Hana Ben-Shabat at A.T. Kerney said retailers were avoiding the post-Christmas "panic mode," which to shoppers looks like post-holiday discounts.
Nordstrom spokeswoman Pamela Lopez said, "Our inventories are lean."
By one measure, SpendingPulse, a research firm owned by MasterCard Advisors, U.S. retail sales from Oct. 31 to Dec. 24 were up 15.4 percent compared to the same period in 2009, reaching $36.4 billion.
Online sales topped $1 billion on six separate days this year, twice as many as last year, the newspaper said.
