Okay, so their jobs really do depend on it, but two-thirds of the retail chief marketing officers surveyed by consulting firm BDO Seidman LLP think U.S. holiday sales will be higher this year.

The inaugural “Retail Compass” survey of 114 chief marketing officers at retailers with more than $100 million in annual revenues found that only two percent expected holiday sales to fall from a year earlier. Overall, the marketing execs, on average, expect a holiday sales increase of 7.8 percent, which is more ambitious than the 5 percent gain forecast by the National Retail Federation trade group.

Among the top 100 largest retailers, some 80 percent of marketing executives predicted higher holiday sales, with an average growth rate of 9.3 percent.

The survey, conducted in the last week of October, found that marketing executives’ biggest concern was energy costs, followed by rising interest rates and the slowing housing market:

Despite several forecasts to the contrary, the senior marketing leaders of US retailers have high hopes for the holidays, Douglas Hart, a partner in BDO Seidmans Retail and Consumer Products practice, said in a statement. However, given their concern about the impact of energy costs on consumer buying, a spike in oil and gas prices in the near term could adversely affect these lofty expectations.”