11th-Hour Holiday Shopping Fell in Favor of On-Time Delivery: Mastercard
Fewer consumers were last-minute shoppers this extended holiday season, reported Mastercard Saturday. The Monday before Christmas, which ranked third in 2019 holiday spending, didn’t make the list of top 10 shopping days in this year's Nov. 1-Dec. 24 period, it…
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said. Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, ranked fourth and third this year, were buoyed by “guaranteed by Christmas” shipping offers, said Mastercard. Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28, ranked second in overall holiday season spend, it said; Cyber Monday was fifth. Holiday retail sales Oct. 11-Dec. 24 increased 3% vs. the 2019 span, it said, while total retail sales for the traditional Nov. 1-Dec. 24 stretch rose 2.4%. Online sales jumped 47% Nov. 1-Dec. 24 and 49% Oct. 11-24, marking record online growth, it said. E-commerce was 19.7% of overall retail sales, up from 13.4% last year. Americans continued home-focused purchases during the holiday sales season: Home furnishings led all sectors with 16.2% growth, 31% of it online. Home improvement sales increased 14% overall, 79.7% online. Electronics and appliance sales grew 6%, while apparel sales dropped 19%. Department stores' overall sales fell 10.2%, while online sales grew 3.3%, “reinforcing the importance of omnichannel offerings,” said the report. Though Black Friday sales were down 16% year on year, it was still the top sales day of the season. The report measures U.S. retail sales spending across all payment types, including cash and checks.