Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2018 Spending Up 6% Over Last Year, 5% for Small Businesses

Early shopping results from First Data’s Holiday Insights Dashboard have revealed overall spending was up 6.1% for Thanksgiving- Black Friday year over year with a 5.3% growth for small businesses over the same period. This does not reflect the results for the entire shopping season, but so far things are looking good for retailers. If the early results manage to hold, they might surpass the 2017 numbers after all the shopping days have been calculated. In 2017, First Data’s report for that year’s total holiday shopping season was up by 6.2% from 2016. The Holiday Insights Dashboard from First Data will track holiday spending trends across the US in real-time until January 3. According to the company, the data will reflect actual transactions from millions of merchants nationwide. The dashboard provides a daily ranking of the most active sub-sectors including dining, services, hotel/travel/leisure, grocery and food stores, and more.