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Early Report Indicates the Season Finished Strong
A survey from MasterCard shows that a last-minute surge in spending by consumers helped retail sales finish 8 percent up over last year.
New York--Shoppers waited until the final days before Christmas to finish their shopping, made a significant amount of their purchases online and continued to spend on experiences, such as dining and travel.
That’s what early data, released Dec. 28 by MasterCard, shows about the 2015 holiday season.
According to MasterCard SpendingPulse, U.S. retail sales (excluding gas and auto) were up nearly 8 percent year-over-year between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. SpendingPulse is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network and survey-based estimates of how much people spent using other payments forms, such as cash and check.
Online sales experienced a solid double-digit gain, climbing 20 percent over last year, according to SpendingPulse.
A lot of that money, however, seemingly was spent on one site--Amazon. The e-commerce giant reported that it saw a record-breaking holiday season, shipping 200 million more items through its Prime subscription service between Nov. 1 and Dec. 19 than it did during the same period last year.
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The SpendingPulse survey cited women’s apparel and, interestingly enough, furniture as two of the categories that showed strong sales growth over the holiday season. The survey also noted that lower gas prices helped to boost retail sales.
What didn’t do well this holiday season, however, was luxury.
High-end watch and jewelry sales were hurt by a stronger dollar, which discouraged spending by foreign tourists.
And, as Bloomberg reporter Shannon Pettypiece noted in an interview, many wealthy individuals still are hesitant to put “that flashiness” on display in the post-recession world, and instead are spending their money on experiences, such as dining and travel.
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