News

Advanced Search

Jewelry Shines in Upbeat US Holiday Season

Dec 27, 2017 3:23 AM   By Rapaport News
Comment Comment Email Email Print Print Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Share Share


RAPAPORT... Jewelry sales grew 6% this holiday season, in large part driven by last-minute purchases, according to a Mastercard SpendingPulse survey published Tuesday.

Total retail sales grew 4.9% during the holiday shopping period between November 1 and December 24, the largest year-on-year increase since 2011, the survey showed. Online shopping jumped 18% over last year, driven by a late-season push.

“Overall, this year was a big win for retail,” said Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of market insights for Mastercard. “The strong US economy was a contributing factor, but we also have to recognize that retailers who tried new strategies to engage holiday shoppers were the beneficiaries of this sales increase.”

Holiday shopping continued late into the season, the survey found, with December 23 coming close to Black Friday in terms of total spending over a single day.

Additionally, specialty apparel and department stores both showed moderate gains, a boon for the industry given recent store closings, Mastercard explained.

SpendingPulse reports on US retail sales across multiple payment methods, including Mastercard payment data and survey results for other payment types.

Image: Juliya_Ka/Shutterstock
Tags: holiday sales, holidays, Jewelry, mastercard, MasterCard SpendingPulse, Rapaport News, Sarah Quinlan, US
Similar Articles
Comments: (0)  Add comment Add Comment
Arrange Comments Last to First