U.S. consumers have not turned out in force for the final shopping days before Christmas, suggesting that traditional retailers will just meet industry sales forecasts in a season marked by deep discounts and growing encroachment from online rivals led by Amazon. Super Saturday - the last pre-Christmas Saturday, which fell on December 20 this year - failed to make up for spotty performance this season. That included a disappointing Black Friday, the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday that is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year. 'The past weekend will not save this holiday season,' said Craig Johnson, president of the retail and consumer product-oriented private equity fund Customer Growth Partners.
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Slow sales during Super Saturday and the days leading up to Christmas
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Retailers likely to 'just' meet forecast of 3.4 percent growth
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Super Saturday sales still rose 0.5 percent to $9.15 billion
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That's from $9.1 billion a year ago
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National Retail Federation (NRF) forecast a 4.1 percent rise in holiday sales
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Best-selling retail items were iPhone 6, 'Frozen' toys and winter clothes
Experts including @placeholder said the growth in apparel is occurring on the back of heavily discounted pricing, so margins this year will be weak in most of the category.