Fintech & Ecommerce

Here’s how US retail sales changed this holiday season

Consumers continue to spend more time and money in their homes

Mastercard holiday sales

Here’s how US retail sales changed this holiday season. Source: pexels.com

Mastercard has found that holiday retail sales excluding automotive and gasoline increased 3% this expanded holiday season, running from October 11 through December 24. Notably, online sales grew 49% compared to 2019, the preliminary insights show.

American consumers turned the holiday season on its head, redefining ‘home for the holidays’ in a uniquely 2020 way. They shopped from home for the home, leading to record e-commerce growth. And, consumers shopped earlier than ever before. Across our expanded 75-day holiday shopping season, sales were up 3%, a testament to the holiday season and strength of retailers and consumers alike
Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated

Key findings from Mastercard SpendingPulse underscore the shift to online spending, with e-commerce accounting for 19.7% of overall retail sales – up from nearly 13.4% in 2019.

Home furniture and furnishings experienced the strongest growth of any sector compared to 2019, up 16.2%, and it grew 31% online specifically. In addition, home improvement was up 14.1%, with e-commerce sales up 79.7%.

Meanwhile, apparel experienced a decline of 19.1% year over year, while electronics and appliances were up 6% overall.
Department stores saw an overall sales decline of 10.2% and online sales growth of 3.3%, reinforcing the importance of omnichannel offerings. Buy online, pick up in-store as well as technologies like contactless were key for retailers this season.

We’ve reported that 79% of US shoppers left their holiday shopping at the last minute and plan to finish shopping for relatives within 2 weeks of Christmas.

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