(Reuters) – US retail sales rose 3% during this year’s extended shopping season from October 11 to December 24, a report by Mastercard Inc said on Saturday, fueled by a pandemic-driven shift to online shopping .
US e-commerce sales rose 49 percent in this year’s shopping season, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report, highlighting the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in transforming customers’ buying habits.
Holiday e-commerce sales accounted for 19.7% of total retail sales this year, the data showed, noting that options such as online shopping and in-store take-over, contactless technologies were key for retailers.
The holiday shopping season may account for the majority of some retailers’ annual sales, but the health crisis has meant that more retailers, including Walmart Inc and Target Corp, which face capacity constraints in some stores, have launched holiday promotions earlier.
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. has withdrawn its annual summer promotional event until October, marking a longer-than-ever holiday season for retailers that lost sales for several weeks during foreclosures earlier this year.
“This has been a healthier holiday season than many had predicted,” Mastercard chief adviser Steve Sadove told Reuters in an interview.
Sadove believes that the digital trend will continue to grow in 2021, with smaller retailers embracing new technologies to offer customers new ways to shop.
People who spend more at home, thanks to extensive home work and distance learning policies, have fueled the demand for home decor and home improvement products, with retail sales of furniture and home furniture rising by 16.2 %, according to the report.
Electronics and home appliances also increased by 6% during this period, as a reduction in spending on meals, travel and leisure encouraged buyers to make other purchases.
Clothing and jewelry sales fell overall, but e-commerce sales rose 15.7% and 44.6%, respectively.
The SpendingPulse report tracks spending by combining sales activity in the Mastercard payment network with estimates of cash and other forms of payment, but excludes car sales.
Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam, Nivedita Balu and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Edited by Pravin Char and Alexandra Hudson