Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Furniture, Internet Sales Boost Holiday Sales
December 29,
2015 by in Furniture Retailing, Industry 
A double-digit increase in furniture sales helped boost retail sales this holiday season, according to MasterCard’s Spending Pulse report.
Retail sales climbed 7.9 percent during the holiday shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas Eve with e-commerce growing 20 percent over last year.
The report does not give dollar amounts on spending.
“After a slow start, I’m very happy to see that the holiday season was hot for retailers,” said Sarah Quinlan, a senior vice president of market insights for MasterCard Advisors.“We saw some very promising trends. The double-digit growth in furniture sales, for instance, shows that consumers are willing and able to splurge on big ticket items. E-commerce’s rise is a solid indication of an empowered and savvy shopper. We’ll be watching to see if this behavior continues into 2016.”
SpendingPulse reports on national U.S. retail sales across all payments types. The findings are based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check.