Visa: Holiday spending strongest in five years

1/13/2017

Holiday sales not only beat expectations among industry observers, it hit a five-year high.



Retail sales grew by 4.8% through the holiday season, as compared to the same period in 2015 — and November and December spending growth is the strongest it’s been in five years, according to a new report from Visa.



“The Visa Retail Spending Monitor” tracks retail sales, with the exception of autos, gas, and restaurants, among retail goods, services and stores on Visa payment products.





One factor for the growth was stronger U.S. consumer confidence created by strengthening job and wage growth during the holiday months. Many of these shoppers headed right online, a move that contributed to 19% e-commerce spending growth — a jump from 14% in 2015, the report said.



Overall, e-commerce represented a 24% share of holiday retail spend in 2016, up from 21% in 2015. E-commerce’s share of total spend also increased 3% from 2015.



Online retailing is also becoming increasingly important early in the holiday season, as consumers rely on pre-holiday shipping promises. In November 2016, more than 25% of holiday retail was e-commerce-based, up from almost 22% in 2015.



While e-commerce helped fuel all the peak shopping days during the holiday season, Cyber Monday was still the largest online shopping day of the season. Spending on a mobile device continues to gain in popularity, and is expected to continue to rise in the coming years, Visa said.


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