U.S. Consumers Spent 3.5% More This Holiday Season

2013 saw the U.S. economy marred by political grand standing, payment innovations that fizzled out, and worst of all, a waning holiday season thought to be affected by lowered consumer confidence.

In a new report by MasterCard Advisers, the holiday season actually saw holiday spending rise 3.5 percent, a modest growth in comparison to last year’s.

The report measured sales from a period between November 1 to December 24.

MasterCard’s SpendingPulse report claims that 2013’s holiday season would be the most competitive since 2008’s recession. The causes of which, include less days in the holiday season, rising taxes, stagnating wages and the government shutdown.

The U.S. economy grew 4.1 percent in the third quarter, but it was driven mostly by spending in health care and recreation, not retail sales.

The solution for retailers then, was to offer customers huge discounts with mixed results. Items including jewelry, electronics and children’s clothing saw products move at an equal or swifter pace compared to last year. Most retailers offered sales starting at 50% off, and some, including Gap and Old Navy are extending sales offers to after the holidays.

While consumers were lured in by huge discounts, the pressure on merchants and retailers to offer them have hit their bottom line. Discounts were the name of the game to even get customers through the doors, but this year saw the rising consumer trend of targeted shopping, where consumers would go into retail locations looking for specific items, rather than impulse buying on discounts alone.