22 azbankers.org The Primax Payments Pulse: 2021 Holiday Spending Report takes an in-depth look at year-over-year, same-store financial institution comparisons, and provides a three-month view of consumer transactions and trends during the 2021 holiday spending season. The extended 2021 holiday shopping season (October through December) saw strong consumer purchasing, even with a substantial surge of COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant, with the strongest share of weekly purchases — similar to previous years — during the four weeks beginning Thanksgiving week. “Despite pandemic-related challenges and supply chain difficulties, consumer spending remained strong, and many resumed in-person holiday shopping,” said Brian Scott, SVP, Chief Growth Officer for Primax. Growth in purchases outpaced growth in transactions, and growth in Card Present (CP) activity outpaced growth in Card Not Present (CNP) compared to the same quarter in 2020. “Notably, the 2021 holiday shopping period saw consumers reverting to more typical levels of credit card usage, reversing the trend from the prior two years in which more transactions were processed on debit cards,” said Scott. Key takeaways from our Holiday Spending Report include: 1. Credit card usage continues to rise. Consumer spending was very strong for both credit and debit purchases in the fourth quarter, with growth in credit continuing to outpace debit. Credit purchases were up 24%, and debit purchases were up 17% compared to the same period in 2020. For credit purchases in the fourth quarter of 2021, all sectors reported growth above 2020 levels. Compared to 2020 Q4 results, Entertainment and Travel credit purchases were up 119% and 112%, respectively. Transactions grew at a slower rate than purchases, providing a slight improvement to average purchase sizes. Primax Payments Pulse: Consumer Spending Strong through the Extended Holiday Shopping Season
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