Overall US holiday retail sales excluding automotive and gasoline increased 3% this expanded holiday season. Notably, online sales grew 49% compared to 2019, the preliminary insights show. Mastercard SpendingPulse measures overall retail spending trends across all payment types, including cash and cheque.

“American consumers turned the holiday season on its head, redefining ‘home for the holidays’ in a uniquely 2020 way. They shopped from home for the home, leading to record e-commerce growth,” said Steve Sadove, Senior Advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated. “And, consumers shopped earlier than ever before. Across our expanded 75-day holiday shopping season, sales were up 3%, a testament to the holiday season and strength of retailers and consumers alike.”

Key findings from Mastercard SpendingPulse underscore the shift to online spending, with e-commerce accounting for 19.7% of overall retail sales – up from approximately 13.4% in 2019. Luxury retail sales excluding jewellery dropped 21%.

This season, US consumers shopped far earlier than in years past, as retailers offered special promotions early and often. In addition, though Black Friday was down -16%, Thanksgiving weekend through Cyber Monday remained a key time for shoppers, with Black Friday being the top spending day of the 2020 holiday season.