Consumers are on track to spend more online than ever before this holiday season, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. U.S. e-commerce sales trotted off to a strong start just before Thanksgiving, and grew 18.3 percent year-over-year in the period from November 1 through December 19. Mastercard SpendingPulse provides insights into overall retail spending trends across all payment types, including cash and check.
“Online shopping is experiencing a surge boosted by strong growth in Apparel, Department Store, and Jewelry e-commerce sales,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks Incorporated. “A mix of early deals and cold weather helped drive shoppers online. In addition, we’re seeing more consumers finding out about brands and listening to shopping advice from social networks, communities and friends – making it even easier to buy from any connected device.”
Here’s a look at the online holiday shopping trends according to Mastercard SpendingPulse:
An e-commerce wonderland
• E-commerce’s share of overall retail sales reached 13 percent of retail so far in the 2018 season, a new record for online penetration.
• Apparel posted solid results online, with a 16.5 percent growth rate. Furthermore, Department Stores, Electronics and Jewelry all had growth rates between 7 and 10 percent.
Black Friday jingled all the way
• E-commerce has been gaining volume over the last several years as online spending continued to diversify across Thanksgiving week and the entire month of November. Online sales on Black Friday grew 28.4 percent year-over-year.
• Further, wintry weather on the East Coast helped bolster Black Friday online sales – especially during the traditional morning doorbuster sales.
• On Black Friday, Department Stores saw the highest year-over-year growth of online sales with 28.5 percent, followed by Apparel, which saw 25.1 percent growth year-over-year.
Rockin’ around Cyber Monday
• The one day of the season focused exclusively on online shopping did not disappoint. Online sales came in above 29 percent growth year-over-year.
• Specialty Apparel continued its hot run of online sales growth with over 20 percent growth year-over-year.
• Department Stores performed strongly, too, lifting overall sector sales year-over-year growth (both in-store and online) to over 4% for the day.
Mastercard SpendingPulse reports on national retail sales across all payment types in select markets around the world. The findings are based on aggregate sales activity in the Mastercard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check.
