People in Indiana who struggle with debt rarely end up in such a position from just one holiday season. Nonetheless, this time of year can definitely put a damper on a consumer’s attempt to pay down debt or to avoid racking up more debt. Despite the best of intentions, buying during the holidays seems to be one of those things that is hard to resist.
As reported by Supply Chain Brain, the 2018 holiday shopping season has been a strong one, at least from the point of view of major retailers and creditors. Mastercard is noted as experiencing an increase in sales by more than five percent. In total, their sales topped $850 billion, a figure that is higher than the company has seen in six years. Comparing 2018 holiday spending to 2017 holiday spending, Mastercard SpendingPulse notes a 19 percent increase this year.
For retail giant Amazon, the 2018 Cyber Monday shopping day was the company’s single biggest sales day ever. Throughout the holiday season this year, Amazon noted that more than 50 percent of the products purchased through its online marketplace were bought from companies that are medium-sized or small instead of from massive retailers.
Even shipping data can give a glimpse into consumer habits. Amazon said that more than one billion items were shipped via its Prime service this holiday season. Despite concerns on Wall Street, it appears consumers felt confident enough to shop a lot this year. The hope now is that such spending does not put an unmanageable burden on the backs of those consumers.