Holiday Spending Grows — Especially Online

Paying for more experiences and shopping with cash saved at the gas pump were among the reasons for an uptick in holiday spending in 2015.

Overall spending jumped 7.9 percent from the previous year, according to the MasterCard SpendingPulse report. This report tracks retail expenditures using payment cards, cash and checks from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

While sales increased in the past year, one of the biggest findings from the report was the boost in e-commerce sales, which grew roughly 20 percent compared to the previous year, the report says.

Consumers put their money toward furniture, travel and restaurants, in particular, according to the MasterCard SpendingPulse.

Overall, consumer trends from these increasing purchases highlight “experiential spending,” Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of market insights for MasterCard Advisors, told USA Today.

Millennials, who devote 52 percent of their food spending to restaurants and 48 percent on groceries, are more likely to spend on “creating memories rather than buying stuff,” Quinlan says to USA Today.

Another drive for the increase in spending can also be attributed to the savings consumers received from the lower gas prices. Many consumers applied the money saved at the pump toward holiday shopping, according to USA Today.