Consumer Behavior
US retail sales spiked 7.6% in holiday weeks
January 2, 2023
U.S. retail sales, which does not include automotive sales, increased 7.6% this past holiday season compared to the 2021 holiday season, according to the Mastercard Spending Pulse report.
"This holiday retail season looked different than years past," Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks Inc., said in a press release on the report findings. "Retailers discounted heavily but consumers diversified their holiday spending to accommodate rising prices and an appetite for experiences and festive gatherings post-pandemic."
Key trends included:
- Sales grew 10.6% compared to the same period last year, the preliminary insights show. This holiday season, e-commerce made up 21.6% of total retail sales, up from 20.9% in 2021 and 20.6% in 2020.
- Black Friday sustains its title as the top spending day of the 2022 holiday season, up 12% year-over-year excluding automotive.
"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," Michelle Meyer, North America chief economist, Mastercard Economics Institute, said in the release.
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