- December 27, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
The latest COVID-19 variant is upending holiday plans for tens of thousands of travelers — but it didn’t do much damage to holiday shopping.
Holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in nearly two decades. Mastercard Spending Pulse, which tracks all kinds of payments, including cash and debit cards, reported Sunday that holiday sales had risen 8.5% from a year earlier, the biggest annual gain in 17 years. Mastercard SpendingPulse had expected a 7.4% increase.
The results, which covered Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, were fueled by purchases of clothing and jewelry. Holiday sales were up 10.7% compared with the pre-pandemic 2019 holiday period. After omicron hit, some consumers shifted their spending to e-commerce, but sales stayed strong.
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