Holiday e-Commerce Spending Sees Record Year

Nothing says the holidays like… delivery trucks? As the primary e-Commerce shopping period comes to a close due to shipping deadlines, Mastercard SpendingPulse reports that online shopping will play a bigger role in what’s under the tree than ever before. A new report out today finds that in 2017 e-Commerce saw the largest share of holiday sales ever (tracking at more than 11 percent) and growth of 16.3 percent compared to last year.

The SpendingPulse e-Commerce report looks at all online holiday shopping since November 1 and covers retail sales across all payment types.

Key findings of the Mastercard SpendingPulse e-Commerce report:

  • The electronics and appliances category was a big winner online this year, with an increase of 23.8 percent. Home improvement was close behind, at 20.7 percent.
  • While department stores and specialty apparel traditionally see the bulk of their customers shopping in store, a migration is underway—particularly during the holidays. Both categories saw big gains online this year, 13.9 percent and 14.2 percent respectively.
  • Jewelry saw moderate online growth compared to last year (+3.7%); however, last minute in-store sales tend to drive this sector in the final days before Christmas.

“Not only did e-Commerce make a major mark on the 2017 holiday season, but online sales have been growing in the 15 to 20 percent range all year long,” said Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of market insights, Mastercard. “The always-connected consumer has found a match in e-Commerce, where stores never close and the consumer has an endless amount of stores and goods to choose from.”

This article was written by Beth Kitchener and was originally published on the Mastercard newsroom here.

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