First Data: Electronics/appliances among holiday standouts
Nearly all retail categories enjoyed solid growth this past holiday season, but some were particularly robust.
Electronics/appliances and building materials helped drive the overall seasonal growth, seeing the highest growth rates at 8.3% and 6.9%, respectively, according to First Data’s Holiday 2017 SpendTrend report. The only category with a slight decline was the sporting goods, hobby and books segment, with a 0.6% decline. (The data in the report includes only card-based forms of payment.)
Every single region of the country experienced growth in holiday spending, but the Southwest and New England regions grew the fastest, at 5.7% and 5.5%, respectively. At the other end of the scale was the Mid-Atlantic which posted growth of 0.7%.
Among the 10 largest U.S. cities, Houston ranked number one in terms of overall growth, with a 10.9% increase in spend. Following the devastating hurricane season, spending patterns indicate that people in the area are rebuilding. Building materials sales growth was up 31% and furniture sales jumped 22%.
The average ticket size for retail brick-and-mortar was $68.57, compared to $103.49 for e-commerce. The dip in the average e-commerce ticket size, which was $105.73 in 2016, along with nearly 13% growth in transaction volume suggests that more people are using online channels to purchase less expensive, everyday items than in prior years, according to the report.
Throughout the holiday season, retail spending was up 5.4%, a solid increase from last year’s growth rate of 3.6%. E-commerce accounted for 29% of all transactions, up from 26% in 2016.
For more information on the First Data report, including average ticket size, spending across various retail categories, and a deeper regional analysis, go to the firm’s website.
Electronics/appliances and building materials helped drive the overall seasonal growth, seeing the highest growth rates at 8.3% and 6.9%, respectively, according to First Data’s Holiday 2017 SpendTrend report. The only category with a slight decline was the sporting goods, hobby and books segment, with a 0.6% decline. (The data in the report includes only card-based forms of payment.)
Every single region of the country experienced growth in holiday spending, but the Southwest and New England regions grew the fastest, at 5.7% and 5.5%, respectively. At the other end of the scale was the Mid-Atlantic which posted growth of 0.7%.
Among the 10 largest U.S. cities, Houston ranked number one in terms of overall growth, with a 10.9% increase in spend. Following the devastating hurricane season, spending patterns indicate that people in the area are rebuilding. Building materials sales growth was up 31% and furniture sales jumped 22%.
The average ticket size for retail brick-and-mortar was $68.57, compared to $103.49 for e-commerce. The dip in the average e-commerce ticket size, which was $105.73 in 2016, along with nearly 13% growth in transaction volume suggests that more people are using online channels to purchase less expensive, everyday items than in prior years, according to the report.
Throughout the holiday season, retail spending was up 5.4%, a solid increase from last year’s growth rate of 3.6%. E-commerce accounted for 29% of all transactions, up from 26% in 2016.
For more information on the First Data report, including average ticket size, spending across various retail categories, and a deeper regional analysis, go to the firm’s website.