A robust shopping season from before Thanksgiving through Christmas gave retailAers lots of holiday cheer. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, holiday sales increased 5.1 percent to more than $850 billion this year – the strongest growth in the last six years.
Online shopping also saw large gains of 19.1 percent compared to 2017.
Amazon announced a record-breaking holiday all around the world, with more items ordered worldwide than ever before. It said Prime membership continued to grow this holiday season, with tens of millions of people starting Prime free trials or paid memberships.
“From shopping aisles to online carts, consumer confidence translated into holiday cheer for retail,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and chair of Saks Incorporated in a statement.
“By combining the right inventory with the right mix of online versus in-store, many retailers were able to give consumers what they wanted via the right shopping channels.”
The Mastercard SpendingPulse report details holiday shopping from November 1 through December 24. Key findings of the report indicate that despite weather challenges, this was a winning holiday season for retail overall; however, the story was different category by category.
According to the report:
“Total apparel had a strong season with a growth rate of 7.9 percent compared to 2017, recording the best growth rate since 2010. The category followed through on a strong momentum that started during the back-to-school season and accelerated through fall right up to Christmas.
“Home improvement spending continued to surge across the U.S. with spending during the holiday season up 9.0 percent. This trend started before the holiday season and helped the sector power through to a strong finish.
“Department stores finished the season with a 1.3 percent decline from 2017. This follows two years with growth below 2 percent, some of which can be attributed to store closings. However, the online sales growth for department stores indicated a more positive story, with growth of 10.2 percent.
“Electronics and appliances were down 0.7 percent. The home furniture and furnishings category grew 2.3 percent.”
Amazon, however, reported that customers purchased millions more Amazon Devices this holiday season compared to last year – the best-selling Amazon Devices this holiday included all-new Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with all-new Alexa Voice Remote, and Echo.
Poor weather did pose an issue during some primetime shopping periods, according to the Mastercard report.
