Online holiday spend continues to rise, First Data finds
E-commerce eked out a 2 percent gain year over year, rising from 18 percent to 20 percent; overall, sales grew 3.3 during the holiday season, the company says.
Though many consumers waited in long lines during the recent holiday season, a new report from reveals that many more checked off their gift lists from home this year.
According to the First Data Holiday 2015 SpendTrend Report, more than one-fifth (20.2 percent) of all holiday shopping is now carried out online. However, analysis of the company's 1.3 million U.S. merchant locations also showed a 3.3 percent rise in retail sales for the full holiday season. This represents a marginal increase over 2014 year-over-year growth of 3.2 percent.
Online shoppers typically spent more than those in-store, with purchases averaging $125.72 per transaction online compared with $69.64 at brick and mortar locations.