U.S. holiday online sales set record, 3.4% bigger than last year’s record

The U.S. online retail sales amassed record-breaking figures, outperforming last year’s output as Mastercard Inc. reported on Wednesday.

E-commerce sales this year comprised 14.6% of total retail figures and went up 18.8% from the same period in 2018. Mastercard data showed retail sales from Nov. 1 to December 24. The overall holiday retail sales surged by 3.4%.

“E-commerce sales hit a record high this year with more people doing their holiday shopping online,” Steve Sadove,” Mastercard senior adviser said.

“Due to a later than usual Thanksgiving holiday, we saw retailers offering on mechanical sales earlier in this season, meeting consumers’ demand for the best deals across all channels and devices,” Sadove added.

Trump tweeted the news online saying, “2019 Holiday retail sales were up 3.4% from last year, the biggest number in U.S. history. Congratulations America!”

Despite the retail sales increase, William Tsang, Mastercard spokesperson, said 2019’s holiday sales growth was not the biggest ever. Tsang, instead, cited 2018’s record of a 5.1% growth in total sales.