Real-time holiday spending data are here from a payments industry leader for the first time. Payments processor First Data, launched the live dashboard just before Black Friday, November 23rd and offering free access until January 3rd.
Spending Data
The Holiday Insights dashboard reflects actual transaction data from millions of U.S. merchants. The Thanksgiving-Black Friday period revealed overall spending was up 6.1% year-on-year (YOY) with retail spending up 6.4% and SMB spending up 5.3%.
As of 8:00 AM ET today, December 6th, The top five performing categories by transaction volume include: Retail – 76%; Grocery- 10%; Dining – 9%; Services – 3%; and Hotel/Travel/Leisure – 2%.
First Data’s SpendTrend Holiday Insights spending results are based on data drawn from transaction activity from a selected subset of First Data’s processing portfolio. The analysis includes all card-based forms of payment and is based on actual, same-store-sales activity.
Spending Velocity
Insights will include seasonal growth rates for overall and industry-specific spending categories, geographic spending trends and special day-range callouts such as Thanksgiving and Black Friday, among others. In addition, Insights will provide a daily ranking of the most active subsectors and a look into dining spend velocity.
SpendTrend provides economic analyses revealing comprehensive views of consumer purchasing trends on a monthly and quarterly basis, and during holidays, based on actual sales data. First Data will issuing a full report on Black Friday weekend spending in a few days.
CardFlash is displaying a homepage link to the First Data SpendTrend Holiday Insights Dashboard as a courtesy to visitors and CardData clients. You can also follow First Data on LinkedIn and Twitter for additional information on holiday spending trends.
First Data processes six million business locations and 4,000 financial institutions in more than 100 countries globally. The firm processes more than 3,000 transactions per second and $2.4 trillion per year, according to CardData.
CardData offers First Data historical data charts.
First Data has 22,000 owner-associates.
