Retail sales in the US grow 7.6% during the holiday season

Las retail sales in the United States They rose 7.6% between November 1 and December 24, spanning most of the holiday season, as deep discounts lured bargain-hungry consumers, a report from Monday showed. Mastercard.

The increase is higher than the 7.1% growth that Mastercard had forecast in September, when it anticipated that consumers would carry their purchases into October in search of early deals.

However, this year’s holiday retail sales growth is less than last year’s 8.5% increase, as the highest inflation in decades, rising interest rates and the threat of a recession sent consumers become more cautious.

Retailers, including Amazon.com Inc y Walmart Inc in the United States, they offered deep discounts during the holiday season to get rid of excess inventory and bring inventories to normal levels.

That led to strong demand for everything from toys to electronics during the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber ​​Monday.

But electronics sales fell 5.3% over the broader period of about two months, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report. Although sales in the clothing and restaurant categories increased by 4.4% and 15.1%, respectively, which helped boost the overall figure.

Online sales rose 10.6% in the period, slightly less than last year’s 11% rise, according to the Mastercard report.

Meanwhile, during “Cyber ​​Week,” total retail sales rose about 11%, according to a separate Mastercard SpendingPulse report in late November.

Mastercard SpendingPulse measures retail sales in stores and online across all forms of payment. Auto sales are excluded.