Holiday 2017 May Show Strongest Growth Since 2010

Holiday sales are projected to contribute a 3.6% boost over last season, on par with last year’s growth rate, but overall potential is set to surpass 5% year-over-year growth once it’s all tallied, showing the strongest holiday season growth rates since 2010, according to the latest U.S. Retail Holiday Shopping Mid-Season Update from Mastercard SpendingPulse. Much of the growth is online: E-commerce sales are up 16.3% since November, according to the report, which tracked spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 9. While Black Friday still accounts for significant dollar volumes, Cyber Week (Nov. 27-Dec. 3) saw higher growth this year, with sales up 5% compared to last year. In-store traffic and conversions were also up this weekend, according to a Retail Metrics report emailed to Retail Dive. Lines at Kohl’s, TJX and Marshall’s were long, even with multiple registers open, parking lots were near full capacity and significant traffic exited malls. “We must admit Holiday 2017 at the brick-and-mortar level has been stronger than we expected,” Retail Metrics president Ken Perkins said in a statement. Read more at Retail Dive.