Electronic payments growth continues at healthy clip

Electronic payments volume was up 3.8 percent, worldwide, during the third quarter 2018 compared to the same three-month period last year. The increase was almost four times the growth in average tickets during the same period, according to the latest SpendTrend report from First Data Corp.

Third-quarter growth was even stronger in the United States, where spending increased 4.9 percent year-over-year, slightly outpacing growth for the second quarter.

First Data analyzes and breaks down transaction data for domestic and international clients and regularly reports data trends. Here are other key highlights from the company’s latest SpendTrend analysis:

• Growth in ecommerce transactions (at 5.7 percent year over year) outpaced growth in the brick-and-mortar channel (4.5 percent);
• Ecommerce transactions accounted for 33 percent of all spending at First Data merchants, up from 30 percent in the second quarter;
• Electronics stores saw the greatest year-over-year gains among retail clients, 6.8 percent;
• Gas stations charted the greatest year-over-year growth among non-retail clients, at 15.3 percent;
• The slowest performers in the retail sector were sporting goods stores, which saw sales fall by 3.7 percent;
• Restaurant spend was up 4.7 percent, year-over-year, with quick service restaurants leading the pack with 7.9 percent growth;
• The three cities charting the most electronic payments growth were Miami (at 8.3 percent), Dallas (6.3 percent) and San Francisco (5.5 percent).

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