Mastercard: Holiday Shoppers Chase Value as Online Spending Jumps 6.7%

This year, the holiday shopping season belonged to digitally savvy consumers.

New data from Mastercard showed that while total retail sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 rose 3.8%, online shopping was up 6.7%, according to a Thursday (Dec. 26) press release. Those figures, from Mastercard SpendingPulse, are not adjusted for inflation.

“The holiday shopping season revealed a consumer who is willing and able to spend but driven by a search for value as can be seen by concentrated eCommerce spending during the biggest promotional periods,” Michelle Meyer, chief economist for the Mastercard Economics Institute, said in the release. “Solid spending during this holiday season underscores the strength we observed from the consumer all year, supported by the healthy labor market and household wealth gains.”

Consumers looked for values “at every turn” during the season, responding to sales throughout November and the Black Friday period, the release said. The last five days of the season saw 10% of all the holiday spending.

Mastercard also found demand for experiences such as dining out on the rise, with restaurant spending up 6.3%, per the release.

The company’s findings on eCommerce spending were in keeping with preliminary insights from rival Visa released earlier this week. That data showed total retail spending in stores up 4.1% this year, while online shopping increased 7.1%.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS examined the importance of optimizing the payment process for online shopping via pre-purchase testing in a conversation this week with Quantum Metric Vice President of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance Mike Hanson. He said the rise of payment testing among consumers is reconfiguring the retail world.

“Payment testing has become mission critical for any retailer that wants to drive an impact on customer experience and brand loyalty,” Hanson said, adding the average consumer now visits a page two to three times before making a purchase. “Retailers who ensure that their checkout pages are optimized ahead of peak sales will see the best conversion rates and customer satisfaction scores.”

Pre-purchase testing also establishes trust by giving customers the certainty that transactions will be carried out smoothly, Hanson said, particularly during the holiday season.

Consumers will abandon carts if their preferred method of payment isn’t offered. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence found that 70% of shoppers determine where they’ll shop online based largely on the payment options provided.