News

Holiday trends report reveals online growth, greater ecommerce traction

January 13, 2017

Total holiday season spend in 2016 beat out 2015 with growth jumping from 1.8 percent in 2015 to 4.7 percent in 2016, according to First Data’s updated Holiday 2016 SpendTrend Report.

The report includes data through January 2, 2017, in addition to Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending data.

Department stores were down 4.8 percent and women’s ready-to-wear was down 3.7 percent. The big winners were electronics, appliances, building materials and gardening equipment stores.

Retail ecommerce transactions were up 12 percent in 2016 compared to a year ago, stated the report.

"Whether using a PC, tablet or mobile device, Americans continued the recent trend of making their holiday purchases online as retail ecommerce transactions grew by 12 percent. Additionally, more than one fifth (21.3 percent) of all holiday spending was conducted online, a substantial increase from 15.4 percent last year," stated a release on the report's findings.

"We continue to see a strong shift to online shopping and were impressed with the significant growth in ecommerce transactions. More and more, shoppers are opting to stay home to avoid the crowds and make purchases on their own time," Rishi Chhabra, VP, information and analytics at First Data, said in the release.