Merchants in Bladen and around the nation are hoping for sales to pick up this Christmas season. After three years of less than stellar sales, retailers across the nation are looking at recent improvements in retail sales as a positive sign for this year.

Retail sales have improved significantly in much of the nation over the past several months-one sign that the economy may be picking up steam. As a result, economists are predicting that Christmas season sales will pick up about 5.7 percent this year to about $217.4 billion.

Traditionally, many retailers make one-quarter of their annual sales revenue in the last six weeks of the year-the time when most Christmas shoppers are out in droves looking for bargains. Retailers are hopeful that the projected improvement in sales will boost their bottom-line.

"This projected increase would be the largest since 1999," said North Carolina Retail Merchants Association President Fran Preston.

"A lot hangs in the balance for our state as the retail industry has helped to sustain the state's economy at a time when North Carolina has been hit with record job losses to the state's traditional industries of agriculture, textiles and manufacturing. We are wishing for a robust holiday season," Preston added.

One interesting trend noted by association officials is the increase in the number of consumers who are beginning their holiday shopping early.

According to shopping surveys conducted by the association, 40 percent of consumers planned to begin their holiday shopping in October or before. Another 35 percent said they planned to start in November. Only 25 percent said they plan to begin their shopping in December.

Preston said that consumers should not wait this year if they see items they want for Christmas. She pointed out that merchants are managing inventories tightly this year, which means that most will likely not have an excess of most items.

"Our advice to consumers this holiday is to buy it when you see it," Preston said. "There's no guarantee that the toy, sweater, or Finding Nemo DVD you're eyeing will continue to be in stock as the holiday season nears."

Retailers hope that the survey proves to be accurate with regard to the dollars consumers plan to spend this year. Consumers indicated in the survey that they plan to spend an average of $23 more this Christmas season than they did last year.

The average consumer plans to spend $671.89 this holiday season, the survey indicates. Retailers believe that shoppers, in reality, tend to spend more than pre-season surveys indicate and if this proves to be true this year, the picture for the state's retailers could be even rosier this season.

For many, profitability for the year rests on their holiday sales.

Notable in spending trends is the forecast that Internet sales will increase about 42 percent this holiday season to about $12.2 billion. The survey indicates that at least 36 percent of shoppers plan to do at least some of their shopping on-line this year.

In the early days of e-tailing (Internet sales), there was concern by many that an online store would overtake the same retailer's brick-and-mortar outlets, officials say. Now just the opposite is proving to be the case. Many traditional retailers are looking to their Internet operations as an additional source to market their products and an effective means of boosting both sales and profitability.

Many retailers are allowing their customers to order on line and pick up their purchases at their outlets.

According to association officials, discounters will see the most traffic again this year-with 75 percent of shoppers reporting that they plan to shop at discount stores this year. Fifty three percent indicate they will do at least some of their shopping in department stores.

Most retailers here in Bladen have started off the traditional Christmas shopping season with sales and if Friday and Saturday traffic in the stores is any indication, sales are likely to be up for local merchants this year.

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