Share this article
Holiday Spending Jumps as E-Commerce Beats Brick-and-Mortar
Holiday spending rose this year as e-commerce overtook brick-and-mortar sales again this year.
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:53 a.m. Published Dec 26, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Make us preferred on Google
E-commerce sales hit record highs this year as Americans continue to move their holiday shopping online.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
According to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse report, online retail grew 18.8 percent over last year’s holiday season. That’s enough to make online sales a record 14.6 percent of holiday shoppers' total spending, the report says.
Online consumers this year spent 17 percent more on apparel, 8.8 percent more on jewelry, 10.7 percent more on electronics and 6.9 percent more at department stores.
Overall, holiday spending jumped 3.4 percent compared to 2018.
The strong numbers came in spite of 2019’s unusually short holiday season, commonly defined as the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Shoppers had six fewer days than they had in 2018 because Thanksgiving came later in the month this year.
Steve Sadove, an advisor for Mastercard, said in a press release that retailers adapted to the shortened season.
“Due to a later than usual Thanksgiving holiday, we saw retailers offering omnichannel sales earlier in the season, meeting consumers’ demand for the best deals across all channels and devices," he said.
Retailers that accepted crypto or managed crypto payments were slow to respond when CoinDesk asked how their holiday shopping season had gone. eGifter, a gift card trading service, noted that it had not yet "crunched the numbers" on holiday sales but that the company "saw growth in overall crypto sales," said Bill Egan, the site's VP of Marketing.
"We saw more gifting with crypto in 2019, compared to buy-for-self use cases in prior years," he said.
Payment processor BitPay found the holidays quite inspiring as well.
"We saw twice our daily averages of processed volume leading up to the holiday," said BitPay's CMO, Bill Zielke.
Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Silver nears $1 billion in volume on Hyperliquid as bitcoin remains frozen: Asia Morning Briefing
Silver perps have more volume on Hyperliquid than SOL or XRP.
What to know:
- Silver futures on the Hyperliquid crypto derivatives exchange have surged to become one of its most active markets, ranking just behind bitcoin and ether in trading volume.
- The SILVER-USDC contract’s high volume, sizable open interest and slightly negative funding suggest traders are using crypto infrastructure for volatility and hedging in macro commodities rather than for directional crypto bets.
- Bitcoin is holding near $88,000 in a "defensive equilibrium" with cooling ETF inflows, uneven derivatives positioning and rising demand for downside protection, while ether lags and capital rotates toward hard assets like gold and silver.
Top Stories
