U.S. holiday shoppers in 2025 leaned into value, convenience, and experiences, driving a solid uplift in retail sales that favored e-commerce, apparel, and dining, while reinforcing an omnichannel norm.
The latest Mastercard SpendingPulse™ readout paints a picture of a consumer who is cautious yet confident, selectively trading up on fashion, jewelry, and meals out when the price and timing feel right. Holiday sales performance According to preliminary Mastercard SpendingPulse™ data, U.S. retail sales excluding
automotive rose by 3.9% year over year from November 1 through December 21 2025 . The metric captures in-store and online sales across all payment types and is not adjusted for inflation, giving a nominal view of how much consumers actually spent at retail and food service merchants. U.S.
holiday momentum was strong enough that the Mastercard U.S. Santa Tracker flagged growth with several shopping days still to go, suggesting that last-minute activity could add further upside to the season’s final tally.
Importantly, “retail” in this dataset includes retailers and food services but excludes most other services, such as airlines and lodging, so the 3.9% reflects core consumer-facing commerce rather than travel.
Savvy value hunting across channels The defining shopper behavior of 2025 was the rise of the “savvy” consumer who plans ahead, cross-checks prices, and fluidly switches between channels…
