Mastercard Reveals How Much Holiday Sales Jumped This Year

According to Mastercard, holiday sales in 2021 had jumped 8.5% despite higher prices.

Holiday spending saw a boost of 8.5% compared with the year-earlier period said Mastercard SpendingPulse. This was the biggest annual increase in 17 years despite the number coming in below the estimate of an 8.8% increase.

In-store sales added 2.4% while online sales exploded 61.4% compared with the pre-pandemic period of 2019.

The Mastercard data tracks in-store and online retail sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 across all forms of payment, excluding automotive sales.

By its measure, retail sales significantly exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with total sales increasing 10.7% this holiday compared with the same time in 2019.

“Consumer demand remains very strong, but we’re cautiously optimistic because the traffic has decelerated a little bit in December,” remarked Oliver Chen, a retail analyst for Cowen, on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

While Chen has moderate expectations for the industry’s performance this holiday season and beyond, Jan Kniffen, a retail consultant, has been impressed by how much consumers hare been spending and the big numbers that retailers have been reporting.

On CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Monday, he said the past two months may go down as the “best holiday selling ever.”

Kniffen is a former executive at The May Department Stores and expects momentum to continue in the next few weeks and even into the first half of 2022.

According to Kniffen, an increase in gift cards will buoy purchases in the last week of December and early January. Gift cards do not count toward retail sales until people redeem them.

“We could continue to see really strong sales of things as opposed to experiences right through the first half,” he said. “Omicron has slowed down experiences, but it hasn’t slowed down things at all.”

Despite Covid fears and inflation, holiday shopping season went ‘great,’ said Kniffen.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.