Mastercard SpendingPulse: U.S. Retail Sales Grow in February Despite Winter Blast
March 04 2021 - 7:01AM
Business Wire
Another Big Month for E-commerce, which Increased 54.7%
YOY
Despite the inclement weather felt across many parts of the
country this February, U.S. retail sales excluding automotive and
gasoline increased 4.6%* year-over-year when adjusted for
Leap Year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulseTM. Online sales
grew 54.7% compared to 2020. Mastercard SpendingPulse measures
in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment.
At a national level, key retail trends from February
include:
- Grocery Aisle Touchdown: With more people watching
football’s big game from home, Grocery spend was up 30% the three
days prior. That contributed to the Grocery sector growing +12.4%
YOY for the month.
- Love is in the Air—and in the Mail: Also known for being
the month of love, February saw Jewelry spend rise +5.9% and +63.1%
online YOY. Restaurant spend remained down (-13.5%) but has showed
improvement over the past two months.
- Cabin Fever Leads to Home Enhancements: No big surprises
here, as Furniture & Furnishings (+8.6%) continued to post
solid gains as seasonally cooler weather led to home improvements
and décor projects.
- Apparel Shopping Continues to Shift Online: While
Apparel sales were down -5.3% overall, Apparel e-commerce sales
grew +47.3% YOY. This month, 73.9% of all Apparel purchases were
made online; a year ago, in February 2020, 47.5% were purchased
online vs. in-store.
- Stimulus Sales Lift Continued, though Fading: The
infusion of stimulus payments in early January appeared to boost
consumer spending in January and through early February, though the
impacts have waned.
At the local level, the situation varied widely. A series of
winter storms the week ending February 20 affected retail activity
across the South—no state more than Texas. Mastercard SpendingPulse
analysis shows how the extreme winter freeze impacted retail sales
locally and at the national level.
- On February 17, Dallas, Austin and Houston all had
year-over-year total retail sale declines of 35-50% as
retail locations closed amid crippling cold. With Texas typically
accounting for approximately 10% to 11% of U.S. retail sales
volume, this widespread event pulled the national growth rate down
–2.2% for the week.
- Online sales activity also took a hit as power outages limited
consumers’ ability to recharge phones and other devices. This lack
of connectivity drove online sales in the region into negative
territory for several days.
- As the weather cleared, a wave of recovery spending with daily
YOY rates exceeded 30% in markets such as Dallas, Austin and
up to Nashville.
"While in-store sales decelerated slightly as a result of winter
storms, consumers are continuing to show up online,” said Steve
Sadove, Mastercard senior advisor and former CEO of Saks, Inc.
“From jewelry to apparel, e-commerce has opened doors for consumers
to shop online while warmer days, widespread vaccinations and the
loosening of restrictions appear on the horizon.”
*Data has been adjusted to account for the leap year in 2020.
Without seasonal adjustment the total retail sales growth would be
+1%.
About Mastercard SpendingPulse:
Mastercard SpendingPulse™ reports on national retail sales
across all payment types in select markets around the world. The
findings are based on aggregate sales activity in the Mastercard
payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain
other payment forms, such as cash and check. As such,
SpendingPulse™ insights do not in any way contain, reflect or
relate to actual Mastercard operational or financial performance,
or specific payment-card-issuer data.
Mastercard SpendingPulse defines “U.S. retail sales” as sales at
retailers and food services merchants of all sizes. Sales activity
within the services sector (for example, travel services such as
airlines and lodging) are not included. Holiday spending insights
are preliminary.
About Mastercard (NYSE: MA)
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments
industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital
economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions
safe, simple, smart and accessible. Using secure data and networks,
partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions help
individuals, financial institutions, governments and businesses
realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ,
drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our
company. With connections across more than 210 countries and
territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks
priceless possibilities for all. www.mastercard.com
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210304005234/en/
William Tsang, Mastercard 914.249.2640 |
William.Tsang@mastercard.com
Julia Monti, Mastercard 914.217.9533 |
Julia.Monti@mastercard.com
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