According to the Visa Retail Spending Monitor, the holidays were the merriest they have been in sales terms for at least five years.
Over the 2016 November/December season, consumer spending growth in the United States on Visa’s payment products was the strongest it’s been across the five-year period, with retail sales up 4.8% versus holiday 2015.
As viewed through the company’s VisaNet processing network, e-commerce spending grew 19% in the holiday season, better than the 14% advance in the 2015 period. Visa attributed growth to greater U.S. consumer confidence thanks to strong job and wage growth during the holiday months.
E-commerce represented a 24% share of the holiday retail spend in 2016, as recorded by Visa, up from 21% in 2015. The digital share of total spending increased 3% from 2015, the company added. E-commerce has become increasingly important early in the holiday season, Visa indicated, as consumers rely on pre-holiday shipping promises. In November 2016, e-commerce accounted for more than 25% of holiday retail sales, up from about 22% in 2015.
Spending on a mobile device continues to gain, and Visa noted that it expects m-commerce to continue rising in the coming years.
