First Data Report: Card-based spending surges on Black Friday

Atlanta - A report released Monday by payment solution provider First Data Corp. found that on Black Friday, card spending growth returned to pre-recession levels.

According to the First Data SpendTrend analysis for Black Friday 2010, which tracks same-store consumer spending via credit, signature debit, PIN debit and EBT cards at U.S. merchant locations, year-over-year same-store dollar volume grew 12.3%.

Transaction growth was 10.1%.

After several months of declining average purchases, consumers actually increased their overall average purchase size by 1.9% on Black Friday 2010, according to the report. Despite discounting across most merchant categories, consumers made bigger purchases. Among retailers, average tickets increased 1.1% as average ticket gains by softline retailers such as clothing/accessory stores were somewhat offset by average ticket declines among hardline retailers including electronics/appliances stores.

Overall, retailers saw Black Friday 2010 dollar volume growth of 8.6%. The biggest performers were general merchandise stores (including value retail) with dollar volume growth of 12.6%, followed by clothing/accessory stores with dollar volume growth of 10.6%, and sporting goods/hobby/book and music stores with dollar volume growth of 12.2%. Electronics/appliances fared poorly, declining 6.7% compared to last year.