The holiday shopping season is underway, and this year small businesses have less time to capitalize on the busy shopping period.

The largest retail trade group in the United States says it expects consumers to spend more during the upcoming holiday season but the growth in sales to be slower than last year due to concerns over persistent inflation and prices.

The largest U.S. retail trade group is forecasting that the country's retail sales will increase anywhere between 2.5% and 3.5% this year.

If the gift card you're about to buy isn't for a gift, put it down and walk away.

Love is in the air! Americans are spending in record numbers for this Valentine's Day. The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend about $25.8 billion on the holiday this year.

Shoplifting, often considered a victimless crime impacting only large corporations, is a problem growing in many communities, with a ripple effect that ultimately impacts our wallets.

Retailers in Florida lost more than $5.4 billion in revenue to theft in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation. In Georgia, it was more than $2.3 billion.

Mastercard SpendingPulse said Tuesday that holiday sales rose this year.

Last-minute shoppers were out and about on Friday around Northeast Florida.

The National Retail Federation has revised a report released in April that pulls back the claim that organized retail crime accounts for nearly half of overall industry shrink, which measures overall loss in inventory, including theft.

Consumers are scouring the internet for online deals as they begin to cap off the five-day post-Thanksgiving shopping bonanza with Cyber Monday.

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, expects shoppers will spend more this year than last year, but their spending pace will slow given all the economic uncertainty.

These are the estimates from the National Retail Federation.

The National Retail Federation predicts consumers will spend $24 billion on Easter celebrations this year, and rising food costs are a huge part of that expense.

Here’s a synopsis of both the historical elements of Easter that people might not know about, and the modern financial windfall Easter is expected to be in 2022.

Sales growth for the holiday 2022 season slowed more than expected from its blistering pace a year ago as higher borrowing costs and higher inflation made shoppers pull back, according to the nation’s largest retail trade group.

Americans cut back on spending in December, the second consecutive month they’ve done so, underscoring how inflation and the rising cost of using credit cards slowed consumer activity over the crucial holiday shopping season.

More than 166 million people plan to shop between Friday and Cyber Monday which is almost 8 million more than last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Families are gearing up for hundreds of dollars in costs for back-to-school shopping as inflation continues to rise.

Spending is up $3.6 billion since last year and is also record-shattering.

Americans overlooked shortages, spiking prices and uncertainty over the omicron variant to break spending records during the critical holiday shopping season.

For big companies across the country, it's now up to them to decide whether to require employees to get vaccinated.

Holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years, even as shoppers grappled with higher prices, product shortages and a raging new COVID-19 variant in the last few weeks of the season, according to one spending measure.

Cyber Monday starts tomorrow and the National Retail Federation says it’s expected to be record-shattering, surpassing last year’s sales of over $10.8 billion.

On this year’s Black Friday, things almost seem normal.

The National Retail Federation expects that holiday sales gain could shatter last year’s record-breaking season even as a snarled global supply chain slows the flow of goods and results in higher prices for broad range of items.

Whether it’s shortages that are driving up prices of certain items or enthusiasm for the day in general, one thing is clear: It looks like there will be a lot of money spent on Halloween this year.

Retail sales fell in May, dragged down by a decline in auto sales and a shift by Americans to spend more on vacations and other services instead of goods.

The January spending increase followed two straight monthly spending drops that had raised concerns that consumers, who power most of the economy, were hunkered down, too anxious to travel, shop and spend. Consumers saved a significant chunk of their income last month: The personal savings rate jumped to 20.5% from 13.4% in December. It was the highest savings rate since May of last year in the aftermath of pandemic's eruption. AdGregory Daco, chief economist at Oxford Economics, said he thinks the high savings rate, combined with pent-up consumer demand and further federal aid, will lift economic growth this year to 7%. “The combination of a healthier economy and more government stimulus should generate a strong rebound by the middle of the year.”

A sale sign is displayed near the entrance of a Hallmark store Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. Retail sales fell for a third straight month, as a surge in virus cases kept people away from stores and restaurants during the holiday shopping season. The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in December from the month before, a decline Wall Street analysts weren't expecting. The Commerce Department said sales even fell online, down nearly 6% after rising 19% for the year. At restaurants and bars, sales fell 4.5% in December as states restricted in-person dining, ending the year down 21%. The nation’s largest retail trade group said that when car, restaurant and gas sales are taken out, and when non-seasonably adjusted numbers are compared from a year ago instead of month to month, sales in November and December actually rose 8.3% from the year before.

Online sales rose a record 49% year-over-year between Oct. 11 and Dec. 24, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse figures, which exclude services, automotive and gasoline sales. The holiday shopping season was considered longer this year as retailers offered promotions sooner and encouraged customers to get a jump-start to avoid delivery delays. During the traditional holiday period, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, retail sales rose 2.4% year-over-year, according to Mastercard's data. Consumers also favored electronics and appliances, a category where sales rose 6%. There was some payoff, as online clothing sales rose 15.7%, according to Mastercard.

NEW YORK – The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, expects that holiday sales could actually exceed growth seen in prior seasons, despite all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. Holiday sales have averaged gains of 3.5% over the past five years. Not included in total sales figure are sales from restaurants, gas stations and auto dealers. Still, the NRF cited that the aggregate retail sales have seen a V-shaped recovery, growing both month-over-month and year-over-year each month since June. For the first ten months of this year, retail sales rose 6.4% compared with the first 10 months of 2019.

Getty Images via CNN(CNN) - Retailers expect consumers to deliver another strong holiday shopping season, even as the trade war hangs over the economy. Even so, retail sales in November and December will nevertheless grow between 3.8% and 4.2%, to up to $730 billion, the National Retail Federation predicted Thursday. Holiday sales have increased by an average of 3.7% over the past five years, according to the group. Job growth, a low unemployment rate and rising wages will bolster holiday spending, Shay said. The trade war between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, is weighing on retailers.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – According to the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime is on the rise and shoplifters are becoming more aggressive. Retailers say inventory shrink averaged 1.38-percent of retail sales and nearly $44 billion dollars in 2014, now that number is closer to $50 billion dollars. Employees at Victoria's Secret Stores told Business Insider that they see shoplifting every day and aren't allowed to do anything about it. Victoria's Secret has a strict policy where its employees are instructed not to accuse, approach, discuss or point out shoplifters in any way. Racial profiling is a concern for many retailers, along with the safety of their employees.