It's October and Halloween prep is in full swing, that also means the holiday season is creeping (get it?) that much closer.

I recently published some results from our 2018 holiday retail survey that showed retailers were generally more optimistic about their 2018 holiday sales than what actually transpired. This year, there are a number of factors that could affect holiday sales both positively and negatively.

In general, the holiday sales trend has been steadily marching upward since 2009, with each year's sales exceeding the previous. This year is no different. NRF predicts that 2019's holiday sales will grow between 3.8-4.2% over 2018. Despite fewer days between Black Friday and Christmas, Salesforce predicts e-commerce sales will grow 13% this year. On the heels of Amazon's most successful Amazon Prime Day, it's a high possibility that Amazon will reap most of these benefits, but other retailers in the e-commerce sphere also have a chance to succeed.

Consumers are not generally aware of these trends, and growing economic anxiety might impact sales. With fears of a looming recession and political unrest across the globe, there are a variety of factors that could impact consumers' holiday shopping plans. Despite this, 2019 will likely be a banner year.