Mastercard (Mastercard) data analysis service SpendingPulse statistics found that retail sales in the United States this year (2022) year-end holidays increased by 7.6% year-on-year, mainly due to industry discounts to reduce inventory and attract consumers to rush to buy.
According to a press release issued by Mastercard on the 26th, between November 1 and December 24, 2022, US retail sales (excluding cars) will increase by 7.6% annually.
That’s up from Mastercard’s September forecast of 7.1 percent, when it believed shoppers would move forward to October to take advantage of early-bird discounts, Reuters reported.
However, the growth rate of retail sales this year is still lower than the 8.5% in the same period last year, mainly due to inflation soaring to a 40-year high, the Federal Reserve (Fed) aggressively raising interest rates, and fears of an economic recession, making consumers more cautious.
Steve Sadove, a senior adviser to Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of Saks Incorporated, said this year’s holiday sales season is different than in the past. Retailers are discounting heavily to grab customers, but consumers are trying to diversify their holiday shopping budgets to cope with rising prices, and are more interested in post-epidemic experiences and festive gatherings.
Mastercard SpendingPulse tracks all retail payment activity in-store and online and is not adjusted for inflation.
Preliminary analysis shows that online retail sales during this holiday season will increase by 10.6% annually, and e-commerce will account for 21.6% of total retail sales, which is higher than 20.9% in 2021 and 20.6% in 2020. Convenience and discounts are attractive the main cause of the
According to analysis, during the period from November 1 to December 24, the retail sales of apparel and department stores increased by 4.4% and 1% year-on-year respectively, while the retail sales of electronic products and jewelry decreased by 5.3% and 5.4% year-on-year. It is worth noting that the amount of consumption in restaurants increased by 15.1% compared with the same period last year.
Daniel J. Brown
Daniel J. Brown (Editor-in-Chief) is a recently retired data analyst who gets a kick out of reading and writing the news. He enjoys good music, great food, and sports, with a slant towards Southern college football, basketball and professional baseball.