Predictions of a strong holiday season for retailers may prove true with figures from Mastercard Advisors showing sales from November 1 through Christmas Eve up nearly 5%, according to a report from Reuters.
Mastercard figures show shoppers spent more than $800 billion from November 1 through December 24, an increase of 4.9% over 2016. The figure excludes sales of automobiles.
In October, the National Retail Federation predicted a holiday sales increase of between 3.6% and 4%.
Mastercard said online sales were up 18.1% during the holidays, but officials said that e-commerce accounts for only between 11% and 12% of total retail sales.
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