Mastercard: Black Friday Spending Up 12% Despite Inflation

In spite of inflation, American consumers spent the day of Thanksgiving shopping — both online and off — and dining out, leading to double-digit sales growth.

That’s according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse report for Black Friday. Issued on Saturday (Nov. 26), it showed increases in spending across non-automotive categories: retail sales on Friday (Nov. 25) rose 12% year-over-year, the report found, with in-store sales increasing 12% and eCommerce sales seeing a growth of 14%.

Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and chairman of luxury retail brand Saks Fifth Avenue, attributed the growth to retailers offering promotions across channels, which led to a 19% increase in apparel sales, a 4% increase in sales of electronics, and a 21% increase in sales at restaurants. The 12% figure is slightly lower than the 15% Mastercard projected earlier this month.

“With holiday promotions kicking off long before the Thanksgiving weekend, consumers have been shopping strategically for the season’s best deals,” Michelle Meyer, North America chief economist, Mastercard Economics Institute, said in the news release.

“Retailers delivered on Black Friday with deals that enticed consumers to fill their carts despite the inflationary environment,” Meyer added.

PYMNTS noted last week that while those promotions might have dampened consumer enthusiasm for Black Friday, a few things remain certain:

First, while many Americans are working tighter budgets this year, more affluent consumers still have the buying power to keep them shopping. In addition, inventories, broadly speaking, may be bloated, but a few dozen high-demand toys and other items will still be in short supply and likely sell out quickly.

We also noted that some retailers have shown a different view of how the holiday season might shake out.

“When we think about last year, the consumer was flush with cash and there was a pull-forward of demand on well-documented inventory constraints,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette said during the company’s Q3 earnings report, noting the competing realities of the retail industry’s inventory overload and consumers wrestling with tighter budgets and depleted savings.

“With that in mind, we believe they are waiting until closer to the holiday to make purchases,” Gennette predicted, pointing to the extra Saturday shopping day the 2022 calendar has bestowed upon the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas window.