Did U.S. holiday online sales falter? MasterCard says sales surged 60%!

This year's holiday sales are still growing. According to Mastercard data, during the holiday season (November 1 to December 24), US retail sales (excluding auto sales) increased by 8.5% year-on-year and 10.7% over 2019; physical store shopping has seen a recovery, with sales increasing by 8.1% over last year and 2.4% over 2019; online sales continue to grow strongly, up 11% from last year and up 61.4% from 2019 before the pandemic.

In terms of specific categories, this year's sales of clothing increased by 47.3% compared with last year and 29% compared with 2019. Clothing has always been one of the most popular categories. Research organization NPD previously stated that as the epidemic eased and the vaccination rate increased, people gradually began social activities, and the demand for clothing also increased significantly.

In addition to clothing, consumer demand for jewelry has also seen double-digit growth. This year's holiday jewelry sales increased by 32% compared to last year and 26.2% compared to 2019.

According to Pinterest's "2022 Global Trend Report", accessories will be in the spotlight next year. And novel accessories such as tooth jewelry and eye jewelry driven by Generation Z will become a trend. Among them, the search volume of body diamonds on Pinterest increased by 145%; toenail diamond jewelry increased by 150%; and crystal eye jewelry increased by 110%.

In addition, sales of electronic products were also better than last year, up 16.2% and up 19.8% compared to 2019. According to NPD's survey, electronic products are one of consumers' preferred holiday gifts.

In recent years, smart homes have become more and more popular among consumers. According to NPD data, sales of smart home products in the United States increased by 21% from January to November this year compared with the same period last year. In addition to security, consumers now also care about whether the product is convenient, energy-saving and has a sense of atmosphere.

Steve Sadove, a senior consultant at MasterCard , said that due to concerns about supply chain issues, many Americans completed their Christmas shopping early this year. MasterCard data showed that in the 75 days from October 11 to December 24, total U.S. retail sales increased by 8.6% year-on-year.

Mastercard also noted that Black Friday ( November 26-November 28) was the highest spending holiday of the year. During this time, U.S. retail sales increased by 14.1% year-over-year. In-store sales also rebounded, increasing by 16.5% year-over-year, while online sales continued to grow, increasing by 4.9% year-over-year.

Another point is that the share of e-commerce is getting bigger and bigger. According to a survey by Mastercard, online sales accounted for 20.9% of total retail sales between November 1 and December 24, up from 20.6% in 2020 and 14.6% in 2019.

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Holiday Sales