PYMNTS Daily Data Dive: Holiday Spend

Retail spending in the months of November and December 2016 was the strongest in five years. Retail sales increased 4.8 percent during the holiday season when compared to the holiday season in 2015.

What’s more, eCommerce spending increased 19 percent. November saw the creation of more than 200,000 jobs, and December saw a 2.9 percent wage growth year on year.

During the 2016 holiday shopping season, eCommerce accounted for a larger portion of the retail sales, representing a 24 percent share of the holiday retail spend, up from 21 percent in 2015. In November 2016, greater than 25 percent of holiday retail was eCommerce, up from close to 22 percent in 2015.

Here are the numbers:

4.8 percent | Year-on-year (YoY) retail sales increase during 2016’s holiday season

19 percent | Growth in eCommerce spending in the same period

200,000 | Jobs created in November

2.9 percent | YoY wage growth in December

24 percent | Portion of sales via eCommerce

21 percent | eCommerce rate in 2015

25+ percent | eCommerce holiday spend in November 2016

22 percent | eCommerce holiday spend in November 2015