What do you think drove the apparent healthy holiday gains this holiday season?

Interactive Edge’s CEO, Zel Bianco comments:

A few things were big factors this year. A long weekend allowed last-minute shoppers like me the opportunity to pick up a few more things. I think this was the case for many men. Consumer electronics were big winners as well, namely with Echo and its competitors, but it should be noted that 4K TVs were selling at a very brisk pace given the crazy low prices that were being offered. As I’ve commented before in previous posts, the industry says the sky is falling and what I see is that stores this year could not have been more crowded. Could it be that perhaps some of the store closures are just part of the normal adjustments that needed to be made as some retailers expanded too fast and sometimes in the wrong locations? That remains to be seen, but at least there were be some positive signs this year that will make the upcoming NRF less dreary.

What retail apocalypse?