Official figures have confirmed that despite all the concerns and speculations, US retailers ended up having a pretty decent holiday shopping season, with customers letting go of the pent up demand and retailers carefully managing inventories and promotions.

For the month of December, retail sales hiked by a total of 3.4%, as compared to the December of 2008, figures from the Commerce Department revealed on Thursday. Fused together with a rise of 0.9% recorded for November, holiday period retail sales surged by
2.3% to $509.3 Billion as compared to last year.

The National Retail Federation, however, which uses a different approach to calculate its figures, stressed that during December and November 2009, sales had lifted by 1.1% to $446.8 Billion.

"Up against probably the worst Christmas ever last year we had a generally mediocre result in 2009. It does show that the worst is over, but it's much too early to say we will see a significant upturn", said Eric Beder, retail analyst at Brean Murray, Carret & Co.

The rise in sales for the holiday season has come after a fall of 3.4% year-on-year which was recorded by 2008's holiday shopping season.