Visa reported that U.S. holiday retail spending increased 4.2% year-over-year during the seven-week season, driven largely by a 7.8% jump in e-commerce activity. While physical stores retained 73% of total payment volume, the electronics category saw a 5.8% surge that the payments giant attributed to a consumer hardware refresh cycle for AI-capable devices. The spending data defied earlier sentiment surveys where 41% of shoppers intended to cut back due to pricing pressures, though inflation-adjusted “real” growth settled at a more modest 2.2%.
