U.S. Retail Sales, Excl. Automotive, Up 8.5% In This Holiday Season : Mastercard SpendingPulse

(RTTNews) - Holiday retail sales, excluding automotive, increased 8.5% year-over-year this holiday season, running from November 1 through December 24, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse.

Notably, online sales grew 11.0% compared to the same period last year, the preliminary insights show.

Mastercard SpendingPulse measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment.

According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. consumers shopped earlier than in years past, as retailers offered special promotions early and then again later in the season as shoppers raced to secure "guaranteed by Christmas" shipping offers. Looking at Mastercard's expanded holiday season, total retail sales, excluding automotive, were up 8.6% year-over-year for the 75 days between October 11 and December 24.

Black Friday marked the top spending day of the 2021 holiday season yet again. For the Thanksgiving weekend running Friday, November 26 through Sunday, November 28, shoppers drove U.S. retail sales up 14.1% year-over-year. In-store sales also rebounded, increasing 16.5% year-over-year while e-commerce sales experienced sustained growth, up +4.9% year-over-year.

This holiday season, e-commerce made up 20.9% of total retail sales, up from 20.6% in 2020 and 14.6% in 2019.