Primax Payments Pulse:
2024 Holiday Spending Report

The fourth annual Primax Payments Pulse: Holiday Spending Report compares year-over-year, same-store financial institution data and provides a three-month view of consumer transactions and trends during the 2024 holiday spending season.

Key takeaways from the 2024 Holiday Spending Report include:

• For the month of December, year-over-year growth rates strengthened, impacted by the 2024 Thanksgiving holiday timing and subsequent peak shopping days occurring five days later than in 2023. Debit purchases were up 4.5% and credit purchases were up 4.2% in December. Debit transactions were up 2.8% and credit transactions were up 3.2%.
• For the full-year 2024, growth in debit card purchases, up 4.3%, outpaced growth in credit card purchases, up 0.4%, compared to 2023. Money Services, mainly P2P activity, fueled the largest portion of debit purchases growth, contributing 1.6%. For credit purchase growth, the largest contributor was the Service sector, adding 0.8% of year-over-year growth.
• The 12-month CPI through December increased by 2.9%, up 0.2% from November. The Energy index increased 2.6% and accounted for 40% of the overall increase. While an increase in CPI could point toward a rate reduction, other key indicators will most likely lead to no near-term interest rate cuts by the Fed.
• The 2024 holiday shopping season ended with strong consumer purchasing and a surge in Card Not Present (CNP) activity. For the cumulative three-month holiday season, growth in Goods sector debit purchases was up 5.7% and growth in Goods sector credit purchases was up 0.9%. Of our tracked major retailers, all were positive for growth in credit and debit purchases and transactions. Much like the 2023 holiday season, Amazon again had the strongest growth for debit purchases, up 9.2% and credit purchases up 6.0% for the cumulative period.

Download the full report for more key findings from the 2024 holiday season.