U.S. consumer spending shows a positive trend at the beginning of 2022!

Since last year, the U.S. market environment has faced many challenges, including inflation, commodity supply, and repeated epidemics, but driven by strong consumption at the end of 2021, the beginning of 2022 maintained a positive trend.

In an interview with local media , Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said consumers are entering the new year with the momentum of the holiday season ( holiday spending increased 8.5% year-on-year ), and consumer spending trends so far look "relatively positive . " The company previously released data on holiday sales .

Miebach said Mastercard expects that consumers ' spending this year will mainly come from savings accumulated during the epidemic . The surge in COVID-19 cases has reduced the number of times consumers go to physical stores , and they will also shift their spending to online channels . Consumers have developed and become accustomed to online shopping , and there are various signs that they want to conduct more digital banking and online shopping online.

However, as the novel coronavirus omicron variant is still spreading widely around the world , some retailers said that this has affected the company 's operations and product sales , and has also caused a shortage of staff in local stores and distribution centers . However, some companies have chosen to source materials nearby, such as Etsy, while others have chosen to increase transportation costs by chartering planes and renting ships, such as Amazon and Walmart...

As a result, during the 2021 holiday shopping season, although the volume of online shopping by American consumers declined at the end of November, purchases rose again in the following weeks, which also boosted the overall spending level of holiday consumption in 2021. It is reported that US e-commerce spending in 2021 exceeded US$200 billion.

However, behind the seemingly positive US consumer spending, some problems cannot be ignored. Last Friday, the US Department of Commerce also reported that US retail sales fell much more than expected in December last year because soaring prices slashed spending. Recent natural disasters have also had an impact on the lives of local people. While sellers engaged in this market see its positive development, they must also be prepared to deal with potential problems.

USA

Consumer spending

2022