"The most interesting part is not how much they spend, although that's important," Paul Scott said, "but where they're spending it. And we're going to see online shopping really, I think, put a dent on a lot of traditional brick-and-mortar stores this year."

Ready to spend

Despite tepid sales last month, lower unemployment and rising wages could give Americans more disposable income this year, says economist Gus Faucher.

"They're benefiting from lower gasoline prices, as well." Faucher said. "That gives them more money to spend on things, lower home-heating costs, so that's good news. We're adding a lot of jobs, seeing stronger wage gains. I think that people are going to be in the mood to spend."

According to the NRF, the average American consumer will spend about $805 dollars on gifts this season. That's more than $630 billion between November and December, an increase of 3.7 percent from last year.

Vocabulary

brick-and-mortar：（有）实体的

tepid：微温的；不太热烈的

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