US shoppers spent more online during this year’s holiday shopping season, a report by Mastercard showed on Wednesday, with e-commerce sales hitting a record high.
The holiday shopping season is a crucial period for retailers and can account for up to 40 per cent of annual sales. But this year, Thanksgiving, which traditionally starts the US holiday shopping period, was on November 28, nearly a week later than last year’s November 22, leaving retailers with six fewer days to drive sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
E-commerce sales this year made up 14.6 per cent of total retail and rose 18.8 per cent from the 2018 period, according to Mastercard’s data tracking retail sales from November 1 through to Christmas Eve.
Overall holiday retail sales, excluding autos, rose 3.4 per cent.
“E-commerce sales hit a record high this year with more people doing their holiday shopping online,” said Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard.
“Due to a later than usual Thanksgiving holiday, we saw retailers offering omnichannel sales earlier in the season, meeting consumers’ demand for the best deals across all channels and devices,” Mr Sadove said.
Retailers have invested heavily to provide same-day delivery, lockers for store pick-up and improve their online presence as they battle against retail giant Amazon for market share.
US President Donald Trump heralded the news on Twitter in capital letters.
“2019 HOLIDAY RETAIL SALES WERE UP 3.4 per cent FROM LAST YEAR, THE BIGGEST NUMBER IN US HISTORY. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!,” he tweeted.
However, Mastercard spokesman William Tsang, citing 2018’s 5.1 per cent growth in total sales, said this year’s overall holiday sales growth was not the biggest ever.
The White House had no immediate comment on the apparent discrepancy.
Despite slowing global growth, US consumer spending is benefiting from wage growth and a strong labour market, retail consultants and analysts say.
The holiday season was challenging for retailers after Amazon expanded its free return policy to include products that were not previously eligible, giving consumers until January to return even small purchases bought on the website.
The National Retail Federation had forecast US holiday retail sales over the two months to increase between 3.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent. That compares with an average annual increase of 3.7 per cent over the past five years.
