Happy Tuesday, y’all 👋
If this holiday season feels busy, the data backs you up. Shoppers are showing up and clicking, tapping, and financing their way through December in ways that point to where retail is heading next.
Spending is growing steadily, e-commerce continues to carry more weight, and payment players are pushing beyond checkout as the season plays out. The early numbers tell a more specific story than a simple claim that consumers are back.
Let’s get into it.
Driving the news: U.S. holiday retail spending continues to grow at a healthy pace, but the most important signal sits beneath the topline. Mastercard’s SpendingPulse shows holiday sales up 3.9% year over year so far this season, while Visa’s preliminary data puts overall holiday spending growth closer to 4.2%. At first glance, those figures suggest retailers are managing inflation pressure and cautious consumers better than expected.
The mix tells a more revealing story:
E-commerce is driving growth. Mastercard shows online sales up about 7.4%, compared with roughly 2.9% growth in stores.
Digital keeps gaining share. Visa data shows online spending up nearly 8% year over year, even as in-store purchases still account for about 73% of total holiday spend.
Select categories remain strong. Apparel spending is up nearly 8%, while restaurant and experiential spending has risen more than 5%.
Klarna’s data sharpens the picture further:
Entertainment spending up about 130% YoY
Experiences up roughly 115%
Automotive purchases have doubled
Those gains point to consumers leaning more heavily on flexible financing to keep spending without putting immediate pressure on cash flow.
Taken together, the numbers show that shoppers have not loosened their budgets across the board. Instead, they are redirecting spending toward convenience, digital access, and purchases that feel practical or memorable, often supported by alternative payment options.
The stakes: For retailers and brands, this data offers more than an early-season snapshot. It confirms that consumer confidence remains selective rather than broad. Growth concentrates in channels and categories that reduce friction, including faster checkout, deferred payments, and online discovery, instead of spreading evenly across retail.
Payments companies are also using this moment to frame the economy. Mastercard and Visa are not just reporting transactions. They are shaping how investors, advertisers, and partners interpret where commerce shows resilience and where it shows stress.
That framing matters for merchants. Decisions around inventory, capital, and marketing increasingly depend on whether leaders view this growth as structural or seasonal. The current data points toward lasting shifts in how people shop, not a temporary holiday rebound.
The friction: Even with growth, pressure points remain. E-commerce continues to compress margins through shipping costs, returns, and platform fees. Buy now pay later boosts conversion, but it also raises credit risk questions if economic conditions soften in 2026.
Physical retail has avoided collapse, but it has not driven growth. Big box chains and malls still matter, yet they no longer power expansion. At the same time, payments providers compete to deepen customer relationships while staying ahead of regulatory scrutiny.
The bigger picture: Holiday 2025 is not producing a consumer comeback. It is revealing a consumer reset. Spending is flowing toward options that feel easy, justified, and digitally native rather than everywhere at once. The companies winning this season are not just selling products. They are selling confidence at the moment of purchase.
For everything else, see below 👇:
Entertainment
'Avatar: Fire & Ash’ Can Still Break $2B At The Box Office
Despite its modest initial opening, analysts say Avatar: Fire & Ash could reach blockbuster heights thanks to global demand and a franchise advantage. — (Chris Lee for Vulture) — Link
Marketing
2026 Will Be The Year Marketers Rediscover The Basics
After years chasing shiny tech, marketers are leaning back into fundamentals like clear messaging and audience relevance for more reliable ROI. — (Mark Wilson for Fast Company) — Link
Adweek’s Most Popular Stories Of 2025
A roundup of the articles that defined media and marketing conversations this year. — (Adweek Staff for Adweek) — Link
Despite The Hype, Agentic AI Isn’t Ready To Take The Brand Controls Just Yet
Marketers are still keeping humans in the loop as AI isn’t yet capable of full autonomous brand decision-making. — (Kimeko McCoy for Digiday) — Link
Unilever’s 20× Influencer Mandate Sparks Creator Marketing Gold Rush
Unilever’s massive influencer commitment has catalyzed a surge in creator demand and strategy shifts across marketing. — ( Lara O'Reilly for Business Insider) — Link
Platforms
YouTube Has A Firm Grip On Daytime TV
YouTube’s massive reach is now rivaling traditional daytime television viewing. — (John Koblin for The New York Times) — Link
YouTube TV Cancellation Spike Amid Disney Blackout
Carriage disputes sent churn rates up — even as new sign-ups remained resilient. — (James Faris for Business Insider) — Link
Why Netflix Chose Boxing Over Baseball
Netflix’s strategic pivot toward combat sports over traditional sports rights is reshaping its live event playbook. — (John Ourand for Puck) — Link
Tech
Bob Iger Says Disney Is Exploring OpenAI’s Sora For Video
Disney is evaluating AI tools from OpenAI to streamline video production workflows. — (Steven Zeitchik, Julian Sancton for The Hollywood Reporter) — Link
Fashion
Marty Supreme Rides A New Wave Of Movie Merchandising
The Marty Supreme film inspired a surge in fashion-centric merch that’s blending pop culture and resale mania. — (Nico Gavino for Hypebeast) — Link
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