Holiday payments by the numbers

Following are research highlights from recently published reports on 2012 holiday spending trends.

Black Friday sees higher average ticket

First Data Corp.'s SpendTrend analysis of Black Friday 2012 revealed 1.9 percent growth in average ticket size at retailers, compared with a decline of 0.9 percent last year. First Data attributed the increase to shoppers boosting their overall spending and merchants shifting their merchandise discount strategies.

Small Business Saturday successful

According to the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, the National Federation of Independent Business and American Express Co. reported consumer awareness of Small Business Saturday helped to generate $5.5 billion in spending at small businesses on the Saturday following Thanksgiving 2012. Of the 800 consumers surveyed by Redshift Research, 68 percent said they were of aware the campaign, of which 47 percent shopped on that day.

Strong year-end finish for online sales

Big data researcher comScore Inc. estimated retail e-commerce spending for the first 32 days of the 2012 holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 2) reached $21.4 billion, a 14 percent increase over the same period in 2011. Cyber Monday recorded the heaviest single-day spending in online retail history – $1.46 billion, the company stated.

Last minute victory lap at stores forecast

An AmEx Spending & Saving Tracker found that of 1,500 adults surveyed, 32 percent had not initiated holiday shopping as of Dec. 1, 2012; 77 percent were expecting to shop at the last minute. By mid-December, cumulative holiday receipts averaged $445 per person, just over half of the total forecast. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said they planned to spend some portion of their holiday budget on Dec. 26, averaging $187 for the day.

Purchasing with Visa soars on CyberMonday

Visa Inc. reported that consumers spent a record $5 billion online with Visa-branded payment cards over the four-day 2012 Thanksgiving weekend, which stretched from Black Friday through CyberMonday. On CyberMonday, consumers generated $2 billion in purchase volume using Visa cards issued in the United States, an increase of over 21 percent from 2011, according to Visa Chief Economist Wayne Best.

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