How were holiday sales in your store this season? According to the folks at MasterCard, seasonal sales were up outside the powersports and automotive realm. “U.S. retail sales, excluding automotive, increased 7.6% year-over-year this holiday season,” claimed the Mastercard SpendingPulse tally, measuring real sales from November 1 through December 24. The results came at the top end of the National Retail Federation’s forecast growth in the 6%- 8% range and topped MasterCard’s forecast calling for a 7.1% increase.
“This holiday retail season looked different than years past,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for MasterCard (and former CEO and chairman of Saks Inc.). “Retailers discounted heavily, but consumers diversified their holiday spending to accommodate rising prices and an appetite for experiences and festive gatherings post-pandemic.” He noted the positive results still fell short of last year’s 8.5% gain despite high single-digit inflation this year.
“Inflation altered the way U.S. consumers approached their holiday shopping, from hunting for the best deals to making trade-offs that stretched gift-giving budgets,” added Michelle Meyer, North America chief economist, MasterCard Economics Institute. “Consumers and retailers navigated the season well, displaying resilience amid increasing economic pressures.”
Key Shopping Trends:
• Online sales grew 10.6%.
• E-commerce made up 21.6% of total retail sales, up from 20.9% in 2021 and 20.6% in 2020.
• Black Friday remained the top spending day of the 2022 holiday season, up +12% year-over-year, excluding automotive, followed closely by Saturdays in December.
