Mastercard records 8.5 percent rise in holiday sales as online shopping surges

A report by the finance service giant Mastercard has revealed that the retail sales in the United States grew by 8.5 percent during the holiday season between November 1 to December 24, 2021. The report mentioned about the immense sales in e-commerce. In the United States alone, the e-commerce sales went up by 11 percent in the holiday shopping season in 2021. The figures came out despite the COVID-19’s role in influencing the spending habits of people.

Apart from the customers, the retailers also faced supply chain strains that led to an inflation. But despite the situation, customers continued to rush to the stores and the sales of the physical stores also went up by 8.1 percent compared to what was seen in 2020. Steve Sadove, the senior advisor at Mastercard mentioned that the shoppers were eager, to secure their gifts before the retail rush began. Moreover, there were also insecurities regarding the supply chain and labor supply. The e-commerce sales during the holiday season made up by 20.9 percent of the total of the retail sales in 2021.

It has shown a growth as the consumers continue to enjoy the ease of browsing and buying while they lay back at the couch of their homes. Some of the segments like jewelery and electronics continued to see a growth with jewelry sales surging at 32 percent while electronics sales climbing to 16.2 percent compared to the figures noticed in 2020. The spending trend continues to rise even as the Christmas weekend comes to an end.

The year 2021 came with a ray of hope for a number of retail businesses. But the omicron variant played the spoiler as even the health experts continue to remain clueless about how the new variant behaves. The new variant does not seem to be much of a threat, but is highly contagious with the speed that it is spreading.

Photo Credits: Pixabay