Christmas is in the rearview mirror, bringing another holiday shopping season to a close—sort of. With five days left in 2019, consumers are rushing to spend those holiday gift cards (along with returning and exchanging items that didn’t suit their tastes).
But this holiday season has already been a merry one for retailers. Despite a shorter shopping window because of a late Thanksgiving, a new Mastercard report shows holiday sales increased 3.4% this year (excluding automobiles) between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24. Ecommerce sales grew 18.8% compared to 2018, and made up 14.6% of total retail this season.
